Whathello

I was der what ears earbuds fit. Got the same problem and my wife too. Children : no prob. Guess it comes with age.

mrwunrfl

>>Do you use the Bose just for silence (like ear plugs) or you are listening to music or a book or something on them?

That is a good question. Noise cancelling is active, so it needs power. That power comes from a sound producing device. Suppose it is music and not an audio-book.

I imagine it needs noise + music in order to "subtract" the noise. The volume would at least need to be turned on so that the cancelling knows what to keep. I don't know if a higher volume of the music produces more or better canceling.

thursdaysd

Noise canceling should work without music or voice.

mrwunrfl

yes, I didn't do a good job of googling before I wrote.

The noise cancellation has its own battery and not powered by an attached device, as I wrote.

It has a microphone that picks up the external ambient noise and then it sends out sound waves that oppose it. The headphones just need a power source to work. No attached "sound producing device" to create a wanted sound (music) is needed.

suze

Why I ask is because I went to Best Buys and tried noise cancelling headphones. But without music or whatever they really didn't block out much at all.

That's what I'm after... noise cancelling without having to listen to anything else. All input appreciated.

NewbE

I have Bose headphones that are not noise cancelling; SO has Bose headphones that are. I wear mine without music on and find that they block about half the noise on a plane--I can hear what's going on if I focus, but I can also sleep through it.

SO's, however, block everything when the noise cancelling is turned on, no music necessary. Note that the noise cancelling requires power, so the headphones need to be charged (they hold a charge forever, IME).

Note, too, that the noise cancelling feature can be turned on and off, to preserve power when it's not necessary.

I don't know why you had that experience at Best Buy. Were they Bose? We tried ours at the Bose store in the mall and the noise cancelling was very noticeable.

Hope that helps.

mrwunrfl

https://blog.jabra.com/anc-headsets-...-types-of-anc/

Hobbert

Another vote for good quality earphones. I've got Bose earbuds that come with several different rubber in-ear things so you can use the size that works for you. I prefer earbuds because I like a travel pillow and headphones aren't super comfortable with the pillows. Mine cost about $100 and they were worth every penny.

NewbE

Hobbert, I have good earbuds, too, although mine are Shure, not Bose, and I never thought I'd go for headphones because they're so bulky, but I am really liking them. The travel pillow solution for me is this weird thing:

https://smile.amazon.com/Trtl-Pillow...le+neck+pillow

For me, it really works!