Misophonia & Noise canceling headphones

Hi, I suffer from misophonia and currently wear on ear wireless headphones with white noise to block out sounds. I have 3 pairs which have at least 12h battery life to ensure that I have one available at all times + a spare

I recently got told that I should watch the show A-Typical. I'm not sure why. So far I've found the TV show distressing. But anyway; I noticed that the main character with autism has noise canceling headphone and wondered if anyone has any experience with some that they could recommend.

Reading about noise canceling, In my mind I'm imagine something that negates all sounds and give you total silence. As I sometimes require to listen to sounds very loud to block out some noise. This would be far safer for me as I already have tinnitus.

This this is true on how they actually work. Can someone recommend some headphones which do this? I like my current ones because I can sleep with them on

  • I've recently bought the Bose Quite Comfort in ear headphones,  for wearing around town and at my daughters swimming lessons. I've found them to be really good, comfortable with good sound quality. They have a microphone on the outside which monitors external noise and then the headphones generate the opposite frequency to cancel out the sound. i think this is basically how all of those types of headphones work, so apologies if I'm repeating something you already know or someone has already said.

    I always listen to the radio or music from YouTube. The combination of noise cancelling and a bit of Drum n' Bass usually does the trick!Smile

  • I recently picked up a pair of economical gun '(so called) sport', ear defenders. No batteries, just some slightly adjustable ample ear coverings which keep out the noise and don't use batteries. Fairly tight and currently having the headband loosened around a billy can.

  • yea i sometimes  use ear bud earphones as well when i break my overear bed ones.  I continuously have to repair them about once every 3 months.

  • I couldn't sleep with headphones. I move around so much as I go to sleep (rolling over, hypnagogic jerks...) that they'd get in the way. Earplugs are good though.

  • ok u need to be careful with sleep. I mean i sleep with headphones on sometimes they ( the headphones  ) have to be very simple and very robust to survive  being on your head if u roll over on them etc.

  • I've not really been able to leave the house lately :(

    But maybe one day I'll take a visit there! - Thanks

  • If they sell them in Currys you can put them on. 

    I want Sony ones as I did this and found they felt amazing, but I still feel a bit wary of buying headphones that are so expensive so I haven't yet.

  • So I found that the headphones the character on A-Typical uses are: Bose Quietcomfort 35 Acoustic Noise Cancelling Bluetooth Headphones

    I wish it was possible to "Try" these before you buy because damn they're all pretty expensive.

    It would be nice to have a silence rather then having to blast my ears with sounds 24/7 - I also currently wear them to help me fall asleep.

  • Thanks,  These look interesting. I've avoided putting stuff 'in' my ears for years because I had some issues instead using on-ear or over-ear headphones. I am however tempted to put these in then have on-eat headphones over the top

  • Please could someone put a short glossary on here cos I'm still confused about the different types you can get.

  • I have a pair of Sennheiser HD540 BT headphones that I was given as a birthday present. They are quite good because they block out most of the background noise and it makes me feel much calmer on public transport or if I'm walking next to a busy road. I also play white noise on them sometimes because it helps me concentrate.

    Active noise cancelling (ANC) headphones have a built in microphone which picks up the background noise, then the headphones do a Fourier Transform to break the sound signal up into its constituent frequencies (sine waves), then they play back the same combination of frequencies but shifted 180 degrees out of phase so the incoming sound is cancelled out. This means that ANC works well for continuous background noises (e.g. traffic) but not for sudden, changing sounds. if you want to block out a lot of sound you need ANC headphones that also have good noise isolation (e.g. thick material to absorb sound).

    More information: blog.nuraphone.com/.../anc

  • I read somewhere that noise cancelling headphones can make you feel even more sensitive to noise when you aren't wearing them. I've used Flare Calm plugs at times but I'm self conscious about it because I don't tell everyone I'm autistic. 

  • i have ear defenders with a built radio.  they are designed for chainsaw users.  they take getting used to in that they push on your ears and head with some pressure in order to keep the seal to your head intact.

    i have had they 5 years now  -----   i am used to using them for periods of 4-5 hours.  

    to really isolate myself i use silicone ear plugs plus these headphones playing whitenoise and u r pretty much isolated. This is good when u want to be cut off for periods or time.

    i have no experience of noise cancelling headphones but i am looking at the cheaper end of the market as i am dealing better now with distractions.

     oh BTW my ear defenders are very big but i dont care. You might.

    heres the ones i have ---- the AM radio is rubbish FM radio is normal performance.

    www.amazon.co.uk/.../ref=sr_1_20

  • Hi Ghost, 

    Thanks for starting this thread.  I too would like to learn more about noise-cancelling headphones.  I've done a bit of research on the internet, and am undecided between getting noise-cancelling headphones (which produce sounds that cancel out the ones around you) and noise-isolating headphones (which don't produce any sound themselves, but they are made of materials that insulate the ears against sound really well).

    I've read that noise-cancelling headphones can sometimes create a feeling of pressure on the ear (like when you're in a plane taking off) and I'm a bit worried about that, although I've heard that it's rare.  At the moment I'm thinking I might go for noise-isolating instead, but I want to find out more about both kinds.