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Comment by rsync | Hacker News Reader

For a brief moment I was interested in noise cancelling headphones for airplane usage.

Much, much simpler, cheaper - and certainly more effective - is to use any old earbuds that you prefer and put them underneath a pair of these:

https://www.amazon.com/3M-Earmuff-Protectors-Hearing-Protect...

No batteries to deal with, no mode switching, much less expensive, etc. It works wonderfully and the only downside is that you look a little odd.

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Noise cancelling isn't hearing protection, fwiw. Ear protectors do a much better job of that, too.

Yes, I have a pair of Bose QC15's ($150 refurb) that have given me excellent service for the past 3 years, but lately I've discovered that earplugs work just as well if you're not trying to listen to music.

Also when you're trying to sleep on a plane, Bose's active noise-cancellation stops working when you lean your head hard against a headrest (such that the earmuffs touch the headrest). I think it's just the nature of active noise-cancellation. I've resorted to earplugs when trying to sleep while flying.

Noise canceling isn't perfect, so it leaves comb filter peaks of uncanceled sound in the sound field.

It wasn't noise-cancelling not being perfect (it worked just fine), but noise cancelling going bonkers when the earmuffs come into contact with another solid object (in my case, neck cushion on seat). I think it broke the around-ear seal a teeny bit and that threw the noise cancellation off.

Right. I'm saying even when used correctly, it wasn't protecting your hearing from the noise of the flight. Notches of noise were poking through the filters despite the impression of quietness, and causing fatigue damage to the cells tuned to those frequencies.

Right, with noise cancelling headphones on I can talk on a plane at a normal volume and hear everything better generally. If I just wanted to block out noise entirely, ear plugs/muffs would do a better job.

I've also found success with a solution like this (earmuffs + earbuds) for travel and certain office environments.

I've tried a few different earmuffs, and this model from 3M has been the best for me. They're low profile, (more) comfortable, and as effective as any:

https://www.3m.com/3M/en_US/company-us/all-3m-products/~/3M-...

Wearing glasses underneath earmuffs meant for high noise exposure environments can be uncomfortable, as the cups are meant to press into the side of your head.

For the longest time this is actually what they did in the League of Legends eSports scene. Even if they could have afforded proper equipment they continued like that. I guess it's a pretty good enough solution.

I got a pair of Howard Leight Earmuffs to use at the range. They work amazing, and can be adjusted to amplify talking if you want. They have a small cord for plugging into your phone.

https://www.amazon.com/Howard-Leight-Amplification-Electroni...

How's the sound quality on those?

I've tried 3M "worktunes" eamuffs (which have an audio jack), but at low volumes the sound quality is quite bad (there is background white noise).

I own similar ear protection that I wear to sleep on the bus, plane, and if I'm going to bed early while my neighbors are being loud. Mine are completely black, and almost look like big headphones with earbud wires coming out of the bottom.

The HD280s are basically equivalent to this. Similar noise attenuation and already designed to work as headphones. I used to switch between the earmuffs with earbuds below and the HD280s when playing drums along to music.

There’s no way the HD280s are blocking 30db.

Here’s a source that says 12db.

https://www.rtings.com/headphones/reviews/sennheiser/hd-280-...

It's not the same thing, but even simpler is just a white noise app and regular ear buds. That's worked well for me everytime, I don't need silence to fall asleep on a plane I guess.

They're not yellow, so they don't actually look that odd. If I walked past someone wearing them, I'd probably not notice what they are.

Those are what I use too

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