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Question about Active Noise Cancellation alternatives (fedia.io)

submitted 5 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

31 comments fedilink hide all child comments

I've got a audio/tech question, maybe someone here might have some insight into.

I'm in need of noise cancellation for various and sundry reasons. i own a pair of BOSE ANC headphones which are tits, but have been looking for a pair of GOOD ANC earbuds that don't cost $300 bucks, and had an idea that all ANC appears to be, when you break it down, is sound that the earphones/earbuds produce which bounce around in the ear canal and hit the ear drum in certain ways as to "cancel" out various types of background noise.

Again the ANC on my BOSE are amazing. Does anyone know, or have even heard of (no pun intended) anyone who has produced "noise cancelling" sound files?

It seems as if noise cancelling hardware like earphones are producing sounds that cancel out noise, mp3/flac files of "noise cancelling" sound could be on offer somewhere.

Dunno, figured i'd ask. Hope this is the right place to do that, and I'm not breaking any rules, I didn't know where else to post this.

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[–] [email protected] 57 points 5 months ago (2 children)

The sound produced by ANC is the exact 180 degree inverse (or as near as possible) of the incoming bad noise.

It's produced in realtime by dedicated signal processors and requires mic arrays feeding in the sound. The quicker your processing pipeline the better the match is and the more powerful the effect is.

There's no prerecorded sound that would work.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 5 months ago (1 children)

appreciate the response

[–] [email protected] 5 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

Yup not possible. Sound is waves. Think of a sine wave that goes up and down. Noise canceling works by canceling the peaks and valleys of a sound wave with inverted valleys and peaks. If the peak is +1 for example, a sound wave with a valley of -1 played at the same time would cancel it out. This is simplistic terms of course.

The sound of your environment is constantly changing. If you wanted a static audio file to cancel out noise you would have to play some customized white noise. Not the effect you’re looking for.

Just extra context. You’ll need ANC buds. Heard Sony is good. Good luck!

[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 months ago (1 children)

I've always wondered, does the ear experience additional, unheard "loudness" when using ANC?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Yes. On older generation/cheaper ANC this is perceived as increased "pressure". It doesn't seem louder but the physical sensation of loudness is there.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 5 months ago

That actually explains the sensation I have with headphones provided by my work, I want to like them but the sensation is kind of unpleasant