Noise Cancelling Headphones

Noise-cancelling headphones to reduce the impact of noise around you.

A number of people with ADHD talk about:

• Noise cancelling headphones being very positive to reduce unwanted distraction noise around them.
• Using headphones as a visual indicator to people around that you are not to be disturbed lightly

Strategies for any noise from the headphones

• A number of people talk to having silence in the headphones. “A socially acceptable way to wear ear guards in an office environment”
• A number of people talk to using white or brown noise. This can be bought in music stores, found in playlists and some more modern phones have white noise generators.
• A number of people talk to having familar music on repeat. To act to drown surrounding noise but not be stimulating in itself.

Downsides to noise cancelling headphones:

• Colleagues nearby and/or managers may perceive them to be so good that in allows them to make distracting noise nearby. There can be a perception that wearing noise-cancelling headphones deals with all distracting noise; whereas, best case, it dampens it. Most noise cancelling aims to reduce hums and other background noise rather than conversations and other less predictable noise.
• Playing any music or noise has the potential to be damaging to hearing.
• It can create a division in the workplace. A barrier from the non-work conversation that helps a day go by and builds relationships in an office.
• If you need to be aware of some noises around you – for instance, the telephone or a machine – then headphones may cause a new issue. There may be solutions to that issue, for instance, a light alert, but that in turn may product additional issues.