ELI5. Why do active noise cancelling headphones/earbuds not protect your hearing?

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for example, you’re in a loud train station or in a place with loud tools but you hardly hear anything with noise cancelation. why is this not considered hearing protection?

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Anonymous 0 Comments

The same reason a hat doesn’t protect your head in a motorcycle accident. That’s not the intent of the design. You need a helmet.

If you want to protect your hearing, you need physical cups that go over your ears and actually BLOCKS the sound waves. Noise cancelation can be added on top of it for a better experience. But it isn’t going to do the job by itself. Noise cancelation isn’t a force field.

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