Active Noise Cancelling – A Cure For Many Problems

An article written by Tarja on Tinnitus magazine and below is a summary of it in English.

Sound is an essential part of communication. Important information and messages are transmitted and understood in large part thanks to sounds.  Due to sound we able to hear the ringing of phones, alarm sounds of pedestrian crossings, back-up beepers of trucks, sounds of fire alarm etc, but there are also many unnecessary sounds. When they scare, annoy, and aggravate you, they become noises. In this case, we are mentioning background noises.  Our bodies react in negative ways to the continuous background noise and this causes us stress. Stress in turn brings us weariness, amnesia and difficulties in concentration. To those suffering of hyperacusia, experiencing the burden of constant background noise in their everyday lives is even much worse.

Tarja Heino from the Finnish Tinnitus Association tested QuietOns to discover the applicability of active noise cancelling earplugs in protecting one’s hearing from background noise and mitigating the effects of tinnitus. According to Tarja, ’while wearing QuietOns the noise created during driving a car turned into a comfortable humming sound’. The earplugs cancelled the noises of engines well and the friction between car tires and the roads were minimized, she said. Tarja also found them a pleasant surprise as she was still able to listen to radio and talk to the fellow passenger. Also, while cycling to work, she felt that QuietOn’s active noise cancellation ’transformed the whizzing sound of the wind into a mild rustle’. Moreover, QuietOns could be used while attending live concerts both to protect one’s hearing and to make it easier to stand the high volume levels, Tarja suggested. However, the journalist told us that the earplugs still couldn’t cancel the annoying sound of tinnitus and somehow even amplified it (read more at the end of the article to understand more about tinnitus and the earplugs).

”Ympäristössämme monia tärkeitä asioita viestitään äänillä, mutta mukaan mahtuu myös paljon ”ei niin tärkeää” -ääntä. Tällöin puhumme taustahälinästä, jollaisessa monet meistä myös työskentelevät. Huomaamme taustahälinän paljouden usein vasta sitten, kun suljemme kotioven. Kehomme kuitenkin reagoi ärsykkeisiin, halusimme tai emme. Kun olo tuntuu stressaavalta, kärsimme keskittymisvaikeuksista, väsymyksestä tai unettomuudesta, voi olla paikallaan miettiä, millaisessa ääniympäristössä elämme? Varsinkin ääniyliherkät (hyperakusia) ovat vaikeuksissa jatkuvan taustahälyn kanssa.”
Suomen Tinnitusyhditys testasi QuietOneja, voit lukea artikkelin kokonaisuudessaan yhdistyksen nettilehdestä (Tinnitus 1/2017):
https://asiakas.kotisivukone.com/…/tinnit…/Tinnitus_2017.pdf   

P.s: Regarding tinnitus problem, QuietOn earplugs were not made to relieve tinnitus or to generate white noise. They were designed to attenuate sound. Anyways, a faint hiss can be still heard which is a byproduct of the electronic components. It is so low that people with mild hearing loss may not be able to hear it. The faint white noise combined with reduction of surrounding noises may help if tinnitus is mild.