82 ANDROID ADVISOR • ISSUE 88BUYING GUIDE
MostANCheadphonemanufacturers,includingSony,providea
mobileappthatletsyou tailor their headphone’s noise cancellation
toyour preferences.headphonesandin-earheadphoneswith
memory-foamtipsofferthebestpassive
noisecancellation.
Headphoneswithactivenoise
cancellation(ANC)identifysoundwaves
associatedwithnoiseandelectronically
generateaninversesoundwavethat
cancelsit out.Here’swhat we mean:
a sound wave is similar to the ripples
in a pond. Toss a pebble in the pond,
then introduce ripples of the opposite
pattern, and you’ll smooth the pond’s
surface. Active noise cancellation
works in a similar manner. Microphonesmountedon the headphone analyse
ambientsoundwavesandthenproduce
inversesoundwavesthatwillcancel
them out.
As you might expect, the ANC
technologiesfromsomemanufacturers
areincrediblyeffective;others, less so.
We’ve tested models from AKG, Bose,
Bowers & Wilkins, JBL, Libratone, and
Sony and found them to be very good.
Adaptive noise cancellation is
the most sophisticated type of ANC.
It operates on the same principles,
but adapts to your surroundingsto
applymore or
lessoftheeffect
andtoeven bring
in soundsfrom
theoutsideworld.
Some
adaptive noise-
cancelling
solutions even
take into account
how fast you’re
moving, the air
pressure around
you, and whether
you’re likely in a
plane, taking a
walk, or holding
a conversation.
Many operate in
conjunction with