There are two primary types of noise cancellation: Active and Passive Noise Cancelling.

Passive Noise Cancelling headphones relies on physical barriers like denser foam to block out external sounds, whereas the Active Noise Cancelling headphones utilises electronic wizardry that actively listens to the sounds around you and produces an opposite sound wave to cancel it out.

Think of it like being in a tug-of-war match with two teams – the sound wave is on one side, and the anti-sound wave is on the other. When they pull against each other, they cancel each other out, leaving you with peaceful silence.

To achieve this in your headphones, tiny microphones are strategically placed on each side to pick up on ambient noise, which is then neutralised with an opposite sound wave.

The more microphones a headphone has, the better it gets at picking up the noise that it needs to filter out.

But here’s the tricky part – it’s difficult to get the anti-sound wave to perfectly match the external noise in time to block it out effectively. It’s like trying to fit a puzzle piece in the right spot and if you’re just a little bit off, it won’t quite work.

That’s why headphones with a more powerful processor that can work at higher processing speeds will be able to match the sounds more quickly.

Now that you know how noise cancelling technology works, let’s help you find the best option.