How do noise-cancelling headphones actually block out sound?”

333 viewsOtherTechnology

I’ve always been curious about how noise-cancelling headphones work. It feels like magic that they can block out background noise while still letting you hear music or podcasts clearly. Can someone explain in simple terms how they cancel out unwanted sounds?

In: Technology

9 Answers

Anonymous 0 Comments

[from 2 weeks ago:](https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1euodf3/eli5_how_do_noise_canceling_headphones_work/)

“Basically they listen to the world through microphones and add the opposite sounds to the music you listen to. If the sound is +1 the headphones add -1, which results in 0, or no sound. They can’t perfectly capture the sounds in the world, so they can’t perfectly negate them. You also hear sound through your skull and even mouth, and the headphones can’t negate that either. This why they can’t eliminate all sound, but they do make a substantial difference.”

You are viewing 1 out of 9 answers, click here to view all answers.