"One of the points that people don't understand is that the intellectual content of the noise is irrelevant in terms of the damage it does to the ear, " Mattox said.

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Phan, along with my friend and commenter Marq Hwang, suggested ditching expensive and bulky noise-cancelling headphones in favor of smaller earphones that block noise by sealing off the ear canal.

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Thuan Phan, who spends about half the year as a sales engineer, points out that the advantage in space and cost goes to small earphones that block noise by sealing off the ear canal.

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The one who prances around loudly declaring her hostel room number, drunkenly cavorts in the more dangerous parts of town with strangers, and wanders the streets at night wearing her noise cancelling ear buds on dark streets.

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The Digital Silence DS-421D headset is also fitted with a Wolfson WM7130 MEMS microphone in each ear bud to pick up the ambient noise around the user prior to cancellation.

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Tinnitus is a medical term used to describe a ringing or buzzing noise that people can hear permanently in one ear, both ears or in the head.

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Slow-retention foam is used in the ear pads to create a comfortable fit that also improves passive noise cancellation by creating an acoustic seal.

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