NTT claims it can stop the noise leaking from annoying people's headphones Japanese telecommunications megalith NTT released details on Wednesday of ambitious headphone tech that eliminates pesky sound leakage – even on open-ear earphones. The feat is accomplished with a design for a speaker enclosure that is claimed to hold sound in a very small space. "With these earphones, you will be able to …
"why these people think that it is necessary to blast us with their crap choice of music is beyond me"
Probably for the same reason that broadcasters think they must add silly distracting sound effects to reportage programmes -- the assumption that we expect to be constantly "stimulated". Unfortunately many people I've asked have become habituated to this and find quiet environments unnerving so what annoys alain williams (and me) is self-perpetuating and probably escalating.
In pubs the aim of loud music, and salty snacks, is to get you to drink more.
In other environments, the idea is generally to improve the mood by providing a "bed" over either the warehouse like silence or irregular clatter of people and equipment. Personally, I do find that music that is just about audible does help me ignore external sounds such as traffic, because the brain tends to focus on it.
When there are few shoppers, they're welcome to browse idly, but when the shop is overcrowded they want people to get what the want and move on. Science has long established that the type of music playing influences the way customers behave, so shops use that to their benefit - even if it annoys some, it makes the many act as pretended.
I imagine the loud music does get people to drink more given that all chance of useful conversation is annihilated, but in my experience, it also deters repeat visits as conversation is one of the nice parts about going somewhere with friends or colleagues. If I'm enjoying myself, I'm more likely to want to stay and keep ordering things.
"which does somewhat more than optimizing holes in a speaker enclosure. It also pits normal phase and reverse phase sound waves against each other to cancel out at distances."
I suspect that the correct way to describe this is "BY optimizing holes in a speaker enclosure it pits normal phase and reverse phase sound waves against each other to cancel out at distances." No "also".
The sentences work either way. Your suggestion is clear, but misses the point that holes in a speaker enclosure are already optimized.
The normal optimizing holes in a speaker enclosure are for impedance matching. These holes do something more: they do cancelation at a distance.
public transport is an environment in which it is generally thought socially unacceptable to blast your conference call
It's not only the noise of the other party coming out of the headphones that makes it unacceptable to make calls while using public transports, your part will be audible to anyone nearby. If you hear somebody next to you talking to someone you'll subconsciously search for that other guy being addressed and if you can't find anyone that will make you uncomfortable.
Another reason to avoid calls in public is sensitive information may be leaked - even though those around forced to listen in usually won't be interested.
The penumbra where the sounds starts getting cancelled out makes me nauseous.
Yes, I know some of my friends have that problem, noise cancellation is not for everyone. I use a Sennheiser Momentum 3 (over ear) which is quite good, but Sennheiser offers an option in its app to reduce the cxancellation sound pressure for exactly that reason. I haven't tested if that works on my friends, though, and I personally don't have that problem so thankfully I can leave it do its thing when flying.
However, there is one massive gotcha when flying: if you plug in your headset and watch a movie with environment suppression you're likely to almost lose your ear drums during a cabin announcement as that has been set for the standard dinky things they hand out. As far as I'm aware there is as yet no noise cancelling headset that has some sort of input compressor to prevent that from happening, which is one of the reasons I tend to watch movies on my laptop or iPad instead..
I found this with earlier noise cancelling headphones (sensation of pressure) but the Sony WH1000 and Bose 700 both do an excellent job. In my opinion, the Sony does a better job at getting close to absolute silence while the Bose achieves a seamless pass through effect with the external mics when needed (great for quickly hearing what's going on or yourself in a phone call).
Against that, neither are particularly good while walking with NC on and are unusable in wind (a consequence of the microphones) and the sound quality is disappointing compared to something cheaper like the Beyerdynamic DT770 (closed back). For good quality sound, I now go with IEMs, using Shures in high noise environments and Moondrops with saner background volumes.
I've used the Bose - their noise suppression is actually better (after all, it's actually their main aviation business), but I found the sound quality better in the Sennheisers so that's what I picked as I use them more than just on planes.
I must try the other ones you mentioned, though, thanks for the tip.
They've never heard my Stax Lambda Pro's / 404's. Bipolar electrostatic diaphragms, requiring an open-air design (Stax does have a sealed version but they don't sound the same). Think Quads / MartinLogans (sans subs) for the ears.
You AREN'T silencing them. Ever. That's the way they're built and the way they need to operate.
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They once made a battery-powered energizer to take them outside. A few people have dared to. Love to see how that would work out in today's society :p
The biggest problem with any kind of headset is turning it up too loud because this will impair your own hearing over time; if it's so loud that it's annoying other people then it's already too loud.
I don't encounter "leakage" often as a problem but anyone involved in a conversation is going to be more annoying than their headset. But I do like the like idea of improved situational awareness. I already have a headset with external drivers for when cycling. Generally, I can hear both navigational instructions and what's going on around me, which is safer for me and those around me! The design looks good as well, except for that perennial of us four eyes: a loop over the ear, though the clip does show someone wearing glasses, so maybe they've solved this.
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That is probably more common than not, but I am a fan of open-ear designs for some cases. When traveling outdoors, I prefer not to obstruct my hearing when it could be important for safety. When working closely with a small group together, I like being able to hear if a discussion starts so I can take part (although this is less common than working next to people who I don't want to hear). There are also other occasions where having the ability to hear the world around me and the feed from my device simultaneously can be important or just desirable.
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