Noise Canceling

Noise-cancelling headphones are great for blocking out the loud talkers and chaotic coffee shops of the world, but what if there are certain sounds that you want to hear? That's where the experimental new "semantic hearing" system could soon come in.

Nearly 60 years after American folk duo Simon & Garfunkel sang their earworm tune “The Sound of Silence,” three researchers have resurrected the age-old question as to whether the absence of noise is something we can hear and our brains can interpret.

Focal has unveiled its first pair of wireless ANC headphones in the shape of the oddly-named Bathys. The eye-catching cans come with proprietary drivers, boast two optimized ANC modes, support aptX Adaptive and promise long battery life.

QuietOn's latest set of active noise-cancelling sleep earbuds are absolutely tiny, suitable for side-sleepers and extremely simple to use – although there's a couple of odd design decisions here. I've spent a few weeks sleeping in "nordic quietude."

Whatever other qualities they may possess, jet fighters are not known for their quiet engines. They could soon become considerably less noisy without any loss in performance, though, thanks to a relatively simple alteration.

Although an airliner's engines may be very loud on takeoff, its wings also create a lot of wind noise when it's landing. According to a new study, the latter problem could be addressed with the addition of a shape-memory alloy filler within the wing.

A number of hearing aids are now able to amplify one person's voice while filtering out distracting background voices. Well, it turns out that female tree frogs are able to perform a similar task, in order to hear the mating calls of males.

Sony cemented its position as a leader in the Active Noise Canceling space with the release of the WH-1000XM3 ANC headphones in 2018, and now the new WH-1000XM4 model has landed ... with a few more tricks up its sleeve.

The Kokoon Bluetooth headphones are deeply comfortable and deliver solid sound. However, the "sleep enhancing" bells and whistles are a little inconsistent for headphones priced at the luxury end of the market, so they're not for everyone.

Hyundai is claiming a "world first" with its "road noise active noise control system," which uses sound piped through a car's speakers to negate road surface noise as well as engine noise for a significantly quieter cabin.

Though portable Bluetooth speakers allow music lovers to share audio with those around them, headphones are mostly a private listening experience. With the launch of Augmented Audio, BG Audio gives users the choice to keep things private or share with others, either locally or remotely.

Most of the true wireless earphones out there only offer passive isolation from the world around you. Sony's upcoming WF-1000XM3 earphones rock the company's excellent active noise cancellation tech so that you can focus on the music.​​