Noise Canceling Headphones their Benefits and Uses

The effects of noise on performance and stress levels are well documented. Benefits include silence, protecting your hearing, improved focus, and enhanced relaxation. The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America reported, “Austrian children who live in neighborhoods with constant low-level noise (mostly from automobile and train traffic) had higher levels of the stress hormone cortisol than youngsters who lived in quieter neighborhoods.” Further, the effects of noise are even more detrimental to performance in nonnative speakers. Lastly, children with special needs such as ADHD, Autism, Dyslexia, Auditory Processing Disorders, Sensory Processing Disorders, or Executive Function Deficits find extraneous noise to be highly distracting and anxiety provoking. Children with any of these challenges often hear background noises most of us do not hear. Luckily, noise-canceling headphones provide relief to individuals who need increased silence or to those who desire it.

Noise-canceling headphones are either active or passive. Passive headphones block out high frequency sound waves. Some types of passive headphones are actually constructed to maximize noise-filtering properties, creating a heavy set of headphones. Active noise-cancelling headphones also filter out high frequency sounds, while erasing lower-frequency sound waves. Active headphones create their own sound waves to mimic the incoming noises, but are 180 degrees out of phase with the incoming waves to create destructive interference. As a result, the listener is able to choose what he or she hears. Active headphones block about 70% of ambient noise. The design of noise-canceling headphones make them an ideal option for individuals who want to choose what they hear and those who need to add silence to their day.

Children with a Speech/Hearing, Behavioral, Learning, Sensory or Auditory Processing Disorders may need noise canceling headphones in the following places:

• School cafeteria
• The mall
• Concerts or sporting events
• Airplanes
• Rooms with echos
• Noisy city streets
• Situations where there are multiple conversations
• In the classroom, while doing schoolwork or testing (when focus is needed)
• Learning labs
• Public transportation areas
• Any place with a high level of background noise

Parents are often worried about the potential risk to children’s hearing when using headphones. However, due to the fact that these headphones reduce unwanted noise, children are able to comfortably listen at safe levels. Of course parents must weigh the risks with the benefits of  school headphones usage. For children with Autism, noise-canceling headphones can offer a sense of calm and avoidance of panic attacks. Children with ADHD find they are able to focus on their tasks and remain undistracted. Lastly, kids with an Auditory Processing Disorder find using noise-canceling headphones block out extraneous noise that could interfere with the brain’s processing abilities. For parents still concerned about hearing, there is the option of setting a maximum volume.

The technology behind noise-canceling headphones offers the user the opportunity to experience silence, enhanced relaxation, decreased stress, and improved performance and focused. For children who need or desire these things, the headphones offer reprieve to them and their caregivers. Encore Data Products offers a number of noise-canceling headphones, please look at our website for more information https://www.encoredataproducts.com/noise-canceling-headphones/.