ANC earbuds meaning: Defining active noise cancelling earbuds

If you're wondering about the meaning of ANC earbuds, ANC stands for active noise cancellation. When you need to focus and block out the intrusive and distracting sounds of the world around you, noise cancelling earbuds are a perfect lightweight solution to help you create your own personal audio zone. With ANC earbuds, you have the freedom to enjoy your music, podcasts, or audiobooks anywhere, anytime, without external noise spoiling your experience. All you'll hear is your audio, as your noise cancelling earbuds greatly reduce sudden noises and effectively mask everyday ambient sounds. The result is a much more enjoyable, immersive listening experience.

So what is active noise cancellation, and how does it reduce or remove background noise? Noise cancelling earbuds and noise cancelling headphones have small microphones that pick up background noise around you. This noise is analyzed by the ANC system, and an onboard digital signal processing unit (DSP) generates a signal to cancel the noise using phase cancellation, or destructive interference. This is done by creating a signal that is exactly the same in amplitude (volume) as the noise, but with inverted phase relative to the incoming sound waves. When you reproduce two identical signals of opposite phases simultaneously, they cancel each other out, resulting in silence.

All of this happens extremely quickly, in millionths of a second or microsecond. While listening to your audio content, the microphones are picking up your surroundings and the signal processing is constantly adjusting the signal in reaction to noises as they happen.

Even with such a quick response in signal processing, the unpredictable volume and tone of some sudden sounds means you may still hear some noise bleeding through when you're around highly variable or very loud, high-frequency noises. Active noise cancellation works best on steady, predictable droning sounds with a consistent tone and volume. However, active noise cancellation will work on any kind of sound, even sudden, sharp sounds, reducing them enough that they are no longer distracting.

All noise cancelling earbuds and headphones also feature some degree of passive noise cancellation, using a combination of materials and fit to reduce external sound penetration. This is done by creating a physical barrier to stop sound waves from reaching your ears. The amount of noise reduction varies depending on design and materials, and there will still be some low- and high-frequency noises that come through with passive noise cancellation alone.

High-quality audiophile headphones and noise cancelling earbuds are designed around a combination of active and passive noise cancellation, which obviously results in a greater degree of noise reduction. Bose QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds create a tight seal with the ear canal using soft eartips, which work to passively reduce noise in the same fashion as the all-new QuietComfort Earbuds. When you combine ANC technology with these high-quality, super-comfortable earbuds or headphones, you have a great solution for creating a satisfying, immersive personal listening experience.

Bose was the first company to produce active noise cancellation headphones for consumer use. Dr. Amar Bose was inspired to create noise cancelling headphones after being frustrated by the constant cabin noise while trying to use the new electronic headset offered during in-flight entertainment on an eight-hour flight between Zurich and Boston. ANC technology is still evolving with new enhancements always underway, and Bose is at the forefront.

Bose active noise cancellation is customized to suit your ears. When you insert Bose QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds, a chime sounds that enables an inner microphone to pick up the way the sound travels in your ear. This custom information is added to the ANC DSP calculations to improve the noise cancellation even further by tailoring the cancellation specifically to your ears.

Sometimes you may not want to block out noise completely. If you're walking along a busy city street, or you're working somewhere where you need to remain aware of your surroundings, Bose active noise cancellation features different modes, so you can change the amount of cancellation applied to your audio. Choose Quiet Mode when you really want to focus, or Aware Mode when you need to know what's happening around you. You can also set and store your favorite Modes for any situation in the Bose app.

Unwanted noise can be really distracting, and if it goes on too long, it can even be harmful to your health. Combating intrusive noise is easy with ANC earbuds, meaning you can block out noisy neighbors, the conversations of nearby colleagues, traffic sounds, the hum of air conditioners or the droning noise of airplane cabins or other engine sounds, or even wind noise if you're out walking or running.

Noise of all kinds is reduced or eliminated by your ANC earbuds, meaning your audio becomes easier to hear. You can listen at lower volumes when you're not fighting to hear your music over your surroundings. With ample battery life powering the wireless connection and active noise cancellation, Bose QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds and headphones can help you focus on work, studying, or simply enjoying some personal peace and quiet in a noisy world.