From helping you to zone out on the bus to providing headspace in the middle of a packed office, noise-cancelling headphones have become an essential tool for navigating the hustle and bustle of the modern world.

These days you’d be hard-pushed to find someone who doesn’t own some kind of noise-cancelling set, whether passive (when noise is blocked by placing a protective seal around the ears) or active (when technology is used to produce sound waves opposite to those in the environment, thus ‘cancelling out’ the noise).

But has our obsession with blocking out the world around us gone too far? While there are undoubtedly benefits to reducing the level of noise pollution entering our ears, some experts believe that spending hours on end without any ambient sound could have a negative impact on our hearing health. So, what’s the deal? 

Our ears are equipped to handle a variety of sounds and volumes, but the modern world is a particularly noisy place. It’s this constant exposure that can have a negative impact; long-term exposure to noise pollution has been linked to negative outcomes ranging from high blood pressure to depressive symptoms and sleep disturbances.

This is on top of the risk of noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL), which can arise when we’re exposed to sounds over 85db for an extended period (usually around eight hours). “This impact worsens as the noise becomes louder,” explains Claire Saywell, senior audiologist at Bayfields Opticians and Audiologists. “Shorter exposure to loud noises can cause temporary threshold shifts but not usually long-term damage.”

However, that doesn’t mean listening to loud noises on a one-off occasion can’t make a difference; being exposed to loud noise or listening to excessively loud music just once can affect your hearing long-term.  

Knowing how big an impact noise pollution and loud sounds can have on your hearing, you might think noise-cancelling headphones are a smart way to ensure your hearing is protected. And in many ways, this is the case.

“Noise-cancelling headphones can actually help to prevent hearing damage,” explains Specsavers’ chief audiologist Gordon Harrison. “The noise-cancelling feature enables you to enjoy your music at a lower volume – reducing the need to adjust the volume as you listen for an extended period and decreasing the risk of potential hearing damage.”

Of course, if you’re listening to music using noise-cancelling headphones and still have the volume high – over 85db – then you’re still putting yourself at risk of developing hearing damage, so you need to be careful. 

Most smartphones should be able to tell you how loud your music is when you’re plugged in, so just make sure to keep it below 85db (ideally as low as possible); Apple Health has a hearing section that can tell you whether your seven-day sound exposure levels are within a healthy range. 

When it comes to hearing conditions like tinnitus, noise-cancelling headphones could potentially offer some relief, too. “The noise-cancelling and noise-isolating properties can protect the ear from neural damage, which can be helpful if you suffer from tinnitus,” Harrison says. “They can help to tune out the noise effectively, which can be especially useful if you’re in a loud environment or listening to booming music.”

That being said, however, there are some people with tinnitus who say using noise-cancelling headphones actually makes their symptoms worse – and studies have shown that blocking out noise using earplugs can lead people to develop new-onset tinnitus. In one study, 14 out of 18 participants reported phantom sounds after wearing an earplug for seven days.

This is, of course, a limited sample size. And most hearing experts believe noise-cancelling headphones are a safe and effective way to help prevent hearing loss – particularly because they allow users to listen to music and sounds at a much lower volume than they might need to if they were still being exposed to other ambient sounds.  

Hearing health aside, giving yourself a couple of breaks from noise-cancelling devices throughout the day may actually be a good idea. After working from home during the pandemic, many people find it hard to concentrate in the office without some noise-cancelling headphones to help them zone out. 

This is normal – studies have found that office noise can cause physiological stress – but separate research shows that moderate ambient noise around 70db (like in a coffee shop) could actually enhance our performance on creative tasks.

Ultimately, it’s OK to wear your noise-cancelling headphones if you need to switch off from the outside world, but it’s also a good idea to tune in to the world around you every so often. Sometimes, opening yourself up to the hustle and bustle that’s going on around you can be a good thing – if only for a brief moment. 

Images: Getty