Keeping Out the Noise, Letting In the Sound
Do you have a hard time wearing your earmuffs or headsets for longer periods of time? Perhaps the ear pads are pinching your ears, your glasses are digging into your temples, and the headband is a vise. You find yourself readjusting your muffs to alleviate pressure points all the time. In this article, I am …
Read moreHow to Make Noise Reduction Earmuffs and Headsets More Comfortable
Worktunes and Bluetooth safety earmuffs in general are designed to protect your hearing from loud noise (e.g., power tools, gas-powered lawn mowers, leaf blowers, etc.) while at the same time allowing you to listen to audio. Unlike standard headphones, Bluetooth earmuffs are first and foremost hearing protectors. Most of them attempt to limit the maximum …
Read moreHow to Make Quiet Recordings Louder on 3M Worktunes and Other Earmuffs
During celebrations like New Year’s Eve, Chinese New Year, and 4th of July, it is almost impossible to escape firework shows. Besides, most people, including myself, enjoy the spectacle. Fireworks are beautiful, but they can get really loud. You may have heard that active noise cancelling headphones are particularly good against low-frequency noise, and the …
Read moreDo Noise Cancelling Headphones Block Out Firework Noise?
You have been running your white noise machine at maximum volume to drown out the stomping from above, the neighbor’s bass-heavy music, or the rumbling of the trucks passing by. Or perhaps you tried to cover an obnoxious hum permeating your room. Alas, the white noise machine didn’t help all that much. Now you are …
Read moreWhy Most White Noise Machines Don’t Block Low-Frequency Noise
You are sitting in an office, a coffee shop, or your home office and can’t focus because you have to listen to your coworkers or the folks at the next table. Or you are in your bedroom or a hotel room, having to listen to your neighbors having a good laugh and cranking up the …
Quality active noise cancelling headphones work great against low-frequency noise, OK against mid frequency noise (speech, office noise, etc.) and well against high frequency noise. Then we have noise cancelling earbuds. They can be nearly as good as over-ear ANC headphones for low-frequency noise, but are substantially weaker against mid and high frequencies. Good hearing …
Read moreCombining ANC Earbuds and Earmuffs: Ultimate Noise Cancellers?
In my experience, a good white noise machine can completely drown out moderate but not loud snoring from a partner sleeping next to you. It tends to work well against snoring coming from a distance (e.g., snoring roommate, snoring neighbor, or snoring dog). For loud snoring, a white noise machine can still help you to …
The MPow HP102A earmuffs are advertised with a noise reduction rating (NRR) of 29 decibels. This is among the highest I have so far seen for Bluetooth hearing protection earmuffs, so I had to get a pair and try them out. Summary I compared the noise reduction of the Mpow HP102A to that of three …
This review is based on in-depth tests of (so far) 10 white noise machines, all acquired at standard retailers. The 10 candidates were shortlisted over time from a much larger selection of machines (through experience, reading, and listening to samples). I have used each of them until I was confident I had figured out most …
Read moreThe 5 Best White Noise Machines (with Sound Samples)
My search for effective earbuds to cancel low frequency noise has led me to a real gem, 1More‘s Dual Driver ANC Pro. Having put them through an in-depth test, I can report that these are very effective noise cancellers. In fact, they are substantially more effective than my current ANC earbuds reference, the Bose QC20. …
