Effect of Active Noise Cancelling Earphones on Preferred Listening Level When Listening to Portable Music Players in Noisy Environments

Na, Woo Sung; Kim, Kun Woo; Jung, Sung Do; Lee, Jae Wook; Jung, Jae Yun; Suh, Myung Whan

Abstract

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES
Active noise cancelling (ANC) is a technology that can reduce external noise by producing a signal that is similar to noise but different in that it has an opposite phase to noise. Nowadays ANC has become an important technology in the field of hearing aids, but many studies have not focused on the effect of ANC of earphones when listening to portable music players. In this study, we aimed to evaluate whether ANC earphones can effectively reduce external noise and lower the preferred listening level.
SUBJECTS AND METHOD
Three different earphones (Ear-canal, On-the-ear, Covering-the-ear) were tested in three different noise environments. Nine participants were tested in 10 experiments. First, through the real ear measurement (REM) system, we evaluated the differences in sound pressure level when the ANC was either turned on or off. Second, we evaluated the effects of ANC on Preferred Listening Level (PLL) for participants listening to the same song with different earphones. Through the REM system, we evaluate the level of sound pressure level when participants controlled the volume and felt most comfortable with the volume level.
RESULTS
All three types of earphones showed statistically significant effects on noise reduction when ANC was turned on. The noise reduction effect was most prominent with the Ear-canal earphone. All three types of earphones also showed statistically significant effect on PLL reduction.
CONCLUSION
ANC earphones may be helpful in noise reduction and preventing noise induced hearing loss when listening to music in noisy environments. Among the three types of earphones, Ear-canal earphone seems to be the most effective in noise reduction.