Ask HN: Do you wear ear protection or noise cancelling headphones while working?

[louprado]

I am considering purchasing Bose's noise cancelling headphones to block out constant street noise while I work. Is that overkill given that I do not plan to listen to audio ? Has anyone tried earmuffs worn at gun ranges instead and if so are they uncomfortable if worn for prolonged periods ?

Just to share, there is a loud traffic control device right by my office window that plays a cuckoo sound whenever the north/south walk light is on. It plays from 6AM to midnight at wildly varying volume levels. I find it comically ironic that I am slowly losing my mind to the sound of a cuckoo.

[oblib]

I'm gonna second what steve1011 says. If it's just dampening down noise you're after good earplugs are probably better than the best noise canceling headphones.

I wore industrial grade earmuffs and earplugs most all day long when I did metal work. That's not the same as wearing them in an office environment all day but I didn't find earmuffs terribly uncomfortable and I just looked at few newer models that look pretty close in design and weight as the Bose headset for about $30.

Both plugs and muffs have pros and cons. Plugs are less conspicuous, and muffs are easier to get on and off.

My own experience is that they work about the same (if both are high quality) and I generally wore both when doing metal work because the loud hammering and grinding I did was especially damaging to our hearing and there was a very noticeable difference than when using only one of those.

The earplugs I used were made out of "memory foam" (like the bed mattresses use). There are other types I tried but they were not near as good.

[tedmiston]

The memory foam earplugs sound interesting. Do you have a link or the brand you used for reference?

[ortusdux]

I recommend JVC's Marshmallow headphones. They are earplug earbuds. They are cheap, robust, and have a decent sound. I go through about two pairs a year but I am very hard on them.

[roryisok]

I made my own "noise cancelling" headphones by buying a set of ex army ear protectors and wiring in the drivers from an old pair of Sony headphones. They are very effective. Once in work I watched everybody in the office stand up and put on their coats, then start to wave at me. I was very confused until I took off the headphones and realised the fire alarm was going off

[andreasklinger]

amazing ;) can you post a photo of them?

[jlebar]

Man, I would love to try these out. Are they available for purchase?

[mike_h]

Noise-canceling headphones aren't as effective as passive noise blockers. If you don't want to wear earplugs all day, use the earmuffs meant for heavy machinery or shooting:

https://www.amazon.com/Ear-Defense-3000-Muffs-Earplugs/dp/B0...

They even sell some as pretty decent headphones:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004U4A5RU

Re: comfort, you will have to try a few pairs to see which ones are best for you; most seem to be designed more for safety and maintaining a seal than for wearing all day without fatigue.

[overcast]

My office has white noise generators to drown out the open office layout conversations. So I wear noise cancelling headphones, to cancel the white noise generators. It's insane, but keeps my sanity. Otherwise, it's like you're on an airplane all day.

[beart]

I'm in the exact same boat as you in my office. Who the hell designs an office space that requires static noise blasted 24 hours a day to drown conversations out?

[legodt]

Can you please elaborate on the reasoning your company gave for such a wild idea? Have any of your coworkers commented on this? Is this some sort of trend to compensate for poor office planning? I thought the point of open plans was to reduce hardware costs, not introduce more equipment! You are right, that is absolutely insane

[rl3]

Sounds like it's trading the default form of open office plan insanity for another.

[unixhero]

What????

[tedmiston]

So I recently got the Bose QC30 and while they will help with average traffic noise, the active noise canceling doesn't work super well for higher pitched or more abrupt sounds like the cuckoo clock.

I've been playing brown noise or something similar through them on top of the active noise cancellation. I use my own command-line program [1] or Noisli in Chrome for this.

Yes, it feels kind of wasteful to buy premium headphones for the express purpose of not listening to music, but this is the best solution I've come up for working in an open office.

I'd be interested to hear how others handle this problem, as I've always been very sensitive to noise and can program way more effectively when background noise is minimal and consistent, like a fan.

[1]: https://github.com/tedmiston/zero-noise

[jseliger]

Earplugs are one possibility: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0044DEESS though I don't know how well they'd work or how comfortable they be for hours at a time. I wear them in noisy bars, clubs, or theaters for shorter periods.

Beyond that, it's hard to imagine a better reasonable solution than noise-cancelling headphones. I first got a pair in college, when I was editing and writing grant proposals while living with roommates who often (and reasonably) wanted to watch movies, hang out with friends, etc.

[falcolas]

Same problem for me; my solution is In Ear Monitors (IEMs). Around 25db of noise reduction combined with the ability to play music (or white/brown/pink noise).

[jlebar]

> Has anyone tried earmuffs worn at gun ranges instead and if so are they uncomfortable if worn for prolonged periods ?

I use such a pair at work: https://www.amazon.com/3M-Peltor-Over-Earmuffs-X5A/dp/B01MG1...

They are pretty uncomfortable at first, but I've gotten used to them. They are like focus pills for me -- I put them on, then take them off and suddenly realize two hours have passed.

I am interested in these "ex arm ear protectors" that roryisok mentions.

[ccrush]

What you're looking for is the radio headsets that airport ground support crews use. More than 20dB attenuation, headphones built in, designed to be worn an entire shift. If someone can deal with multiple Rolls Royce turbofans nearby while wearing these, you can too. Be careful to buy one with two drivers (some ground crews use the single headphone driver model to have an ear free to hear other sounds), and get a proper adapter to plug them into your audio source. Active noise cancelation only works in the 900Hz and lower range on consumer bose headphones. You can try the Bose pilot headsets if you want, but they are much pricier. You can get a good used ground crew set for about $100.

[steve1011]

Earplugs are way better for noise isolation (i.e. blocking out noise)

There are a number of different types out there, including ones that can be custom-molded to your ear canals for maximum comfort and sound reduction.

For the price of a new pair of Bose headphones, you could buy hundreds of pairs of ear plugs or even a handful of custom molded musicians earplugs.

[licebmi__at__]

Headphones also work as psychological deterrent. I don't really care much about sound, but I do care about the talkative guy who comes with a absurd issue just to make small talk.

[tedmiston]

I'd be curious to hear if anyone has done custom molded plugs before and how much better they really are. Especially if they make a difference in noise isolation and/or cancellation, or if it's more about comfort.

In any case custom tips aren't that expensive relative to the benefits, so it's something I'm considering.

[lcall]

I am very distracted by sounds. The best I've found so far is a combination of: 1- 3Ms "peltor X5a" headphones (there might be better ones now, but a quick amazon search shows some results, they are ~$25). 2- noise-blocking earbuds underneath them (searching amazon will probably turn them up, maybe ~$15?). I think the ones I got were like foam ear plugs, but with a tube down the middle for the sound. 3- some white-noise app (like maybe "chroma doze" from the f-droid store, or "relax and sleep" from the play store; those are the ones I've used).

No connection to the above but as a pleased consumer. I don't know if the above will suit audiophile purists--I love good music but more for the "intelligent conversation & expression" aspect than the purity of reproduction, so YMMV.

(I look forward to reading others' comments here...but it's been a day already so I'm posting first in case it's useful to anyone.)

This combo works for me much better than the friendly Bose noise-cancelling headphones I bought ~2000 (which, or others like them, also might be much better now). But I read that the noise-cancelling concept is weak for ambient (eg office) noise, because it is not constant enough for the cancellation mechanism to pick it up and block it all fast enough. So it is more like for airplane engine noise which is more constant.

[falcolas]

I haven't seen these mentioned yet - In Ear Monitors (IEMs)

They are a combination of earplug and speaker, giving you the benefits of both. Good IEMs [0] will attenuate the surrounding sound by up to 25db (for comparison good earmuffs/earplugs are in the 30-35db range, closed back/over ear headphones with a good seal are in the 5-10db range), and provide high quality music when you want it.

The down side is that, like earplugs, they can be a bit uncomfortable to use until you're used to them. I tend to listen to either music or just pink/brown noise [1] through them, and I can't hear a thing going on in the office - even when they're doing construction.

If you really want to go all out, you can combine earmuffs with music - there are ranges from some inexpensive 3m ones (some of which include a radio, others a 3.5mm jack), up to those used by pilots and ground crew. They're also in the 25db reduction range; I have an old pair of David Clarks which are insane (though heavy, they're made to wear all day).

[0] Shure and Westone make some great IEMs; make sure to pick up some memory foam tips.

[1] I usually use the heavy rain sounds in the "White Noise" app, but there are free generation websites out there too.

[alexmr]

Check out extreme isolation headphones: http://www.extremeheadphones.com/

My co-worker has them and likes them. They're basically earmuffs + audio

[abhikhar]

i just bought bose Q35. though audio quality is avergae but noise cancellation is awesome. it is pretty steep price(349$) but it is worth increase in productivity for me as there is no other solution available in market better than this( i tried sony and momentum before but it doesnt fit my needs well)

[blisterpeanuts]

I second the QC-35. It's the most advanced headphone I've ever used -- maintains a list of paired devices and connects with whichever one is nearby and emitting audio. It talks to you and tells you which devices are currently connected (can turn that off using a phone app).

The noise cancellation is excellent, the audio quality is acceptable to me (perhaps audiophiles are more finicky) and it also works nicely as a wireless bluetooth headset for phone calls. It's replaced my audio 'phones and my phone headset, and I'm getting a bluetooth transmitter for my digital piano so I can practice the piano wirelessly :)

Most of the time I don't play any audio through my Bose 'phones but use them simply as a silencer during the working day; I can't really concentrate with music playing. It's a premium priced product, but well supported and seems to be good quality construction and top engineering. The design is over-the-ear and the ear cushions are very soft and luxurious.

They're rechargeable and last at least all day on a charge. This turned into a mini-review but that merely reflects my enthusiasm at having found a good silencing headset at last :)

[tedmiston]

Just curious, how high do you keep the active noise canceling set to when working? I've found < 40% actually makes it harder to focus and the highest range 75–100% is where I usually keep them when I need to concentrate.

[penetrarthur]

I bought noise isolating headphones today to deal with office noise. I heard very good stuff about Audio Technica ATH-M50X and they are really good indeed. I can definitely recommend those.

[davidandgoliath]

As someone who is extremely noise sensitive, I disagree: ATH-M50X's are 'okay' for audio, and pitiful for noise mitigation. They offer almost zero reduction in outside audio, but are okay from an audio standpoint.

(Yes, gun range ear mufflers will work, but you might look awkward. I have a sets of those when I really need to concentrate)

Here's my recommendation:

Shure SE215-K. In ear studio monitor. amazing noise blocking ability, and, you can play some music to boot. I have literally wore mine down from years of office/motorcycle/road trip use. They have replaceable cables too.

Caveat: These can be uncomfortable for prolonged use (I'm talking ~20 hour road trips) as they're in-ear, but seriously get a set. Now that they're $99 on amazon, vs. the $299 I paid for them years prior -- it's a no brainer. In fact, I'm going to get another set this very moment.

[dublinben]

The Sennheiser HD-280 are much better headphones for this purpose. They actually block significant amounts of sound, unlike the M50.

[atmosx]

Just beware that using any kind of headphones on a daily basis will severely damage your hearing no matter what.

[rl3]

Anecdotally I've been using a combination of open-ear headphones and IEMs for over a decade now. Also a huge live music fan.

Despite listening to a lot of music, some of it quite loudly, I've no perceived hearing loss. Can still hear whispers, distant conversations, and feint sounds that many people can't even hear at all.

Everything I've read on heading loss indicates that managing listening duration relative to the loudness of the source is critical. There's charts for this that'll tell you exactly how long you need to listen at a specific volume for damage to occur.

You can crank it up for a song or two, provided it's followed by a break or significantly reduced volume. Similarly you can very briefly remove ear protection close to the stage at live venues. It's all about breaks, protection, and managing duration.

If you listen to music all day at the same volume, I'm sure it's very possible to unknowingly build tolerance and do some damage. Fortunately my mind tends to burn out on music long before my ears do.

Slightly off topic, but there's a similar risk with live music. One of my first live shows, I forgot my ear plugs and ended up too close to one of the speakers. Didn't really bother me until the next day when I awoke to my ears ringing. Fortunately it cleared fast with seemingly no permanent damage, but I was lucky. I'd say 95% of people at live shows have zero hearing protection.

On that note, if you ever forget your ear plugs at a show, just periodically plug one ear at a time with a finger for 30+ seconds every few minutes (or whatever keeps you comfortable). You might look stupid, but it'll save you.

[oblib]

That happens when you play loud music with them on. Not just wearing them to cancel noise. They protect your hearing used that way.

[roryisok]

Evidence please?

[BorisMelnik]

damn, thats crazy when you put it like that. I really hate the music that is played in our office, rather bad. I've been considering wearing headphones but don't want to damange my ears!

[Zelmor]

Ask for another desk, one with a farther flight from the cuckoo's nest.