Noise Canceling Headphones...switch to noise adding?

[mike]

I like to listen to music while riding the motorcycle.
'Cause I don't want to get dead, I can't use tightly
acoustically coupled phones that give good bass response
but block out traffic sounds.
So, I'm thinking I can just reverse the phase of
noise canceling headphones and add the traffic noise
back in. I'm guessing there's some low-pass filter
on the cancel that I'd have to remove???

Staying alive is more important than quiet
listening.
Anybody tried this?
Thanks, mike

 

[Sylvia Else]

I like to listen to music while riding the motorcycle.
'Cause I don't want to get dead, I can't use tightly
acoustically coupled phones that give good bass response
but block out traffic sounds.
So, I'm thinking I can just reverse the phase of
noise canceling headphones and add the traffic noise
back in. I'm guessing there's some low-pass filter
on the cancel that I'd have to remove???

Staying alive is more important than quiet
listening.
Anybody tried this?
Thanks, mike

Noise cancelling headphones must be measuring the sound inside the ear
cup, subtracting what should be there - the music - and then playing the
rest in antiphase.

Or equivalently, measuring the sound outside the cup, applying a known
transform representing the effect the cup has on sound, and then playing
the result in antiphase.

In neither case is reversing the phase going to give you sound inside
the cup that corresponds to the sound outside.

Sylvia.

 

[John Tserkezis]

I like to listen to music while riding the motorcycle.
'Cause I don't want to get dead, I can't use tightly
acoustically coupled phones that give good bass response
but block out traffic sounds.
So, I'm thinking I can just reverse the phase of
noise canceling headphones and add the traffic noise
back in. I'm guessing there's some low-pass filter
on the cancel that I'd have to remove???

Staying alive is more important than quiet
listening.
Anybody tried this?

No, but I've never had to.

I use moulded plugs with air tubes leading to acoustic drivers. I have
the volume quite low, because the plugs block most of the noise anyway.

The plugs are not absolutely quite, and as long as the volume isn't
loud, I can still get some road noise. Certainly horns and truck engines.


I really don't see the point of it, why use noise-cancelling ears if
you're just going to re-introduce said noise back in again? Do you have
any control over the cancelling circuitry? If so, I suppose you could
reduce the cancelling signal a bit, so it doesn't cancel as much as it
otherwise would.

I'd be wary of filtering here though, the filter would destroy the
validity of the feedback signal making it useless.
If you *really* want filtering, then you could filter the environment,
and feed that back in (separate to the cancelling portion), though, as
above I really don't see that proving useful.

 

[John Tserkezis]

This whole no headphones while driving BS needs some rethinking. Road
safety cannot depend on the driver's ability to hear traffic noises.

There is no restriction on posessing a D/L if deaf. I can drive a Harley
with open pipes or a truck with enough gearbox/engine noise to mask an
approaching siren. Or a Bently with enough insulation that I can't hear
one either.

Don't forget the wind noise. I used to travel about 1.5 hours on
regular basis, most of that on a freeway. I could barely hear my own
engine that was located between my legs uninsulated, let alone the car
next to me that you wouldn't hear standing next to it.

Basically, I had choice, I could get to my destination hearing all the
noise, perhaps a bit of traffic in built up areas, and result in a
screaming headache when I get there, or not.

Also, I'm half deaf as well. (a neurological issue). This makes it
difficult for me to descern a valid signal from background noise. The
plugs allow me able to hear the headphones at a civilised volume,
wereas, normal headphones (noise cancelling or not) the volume would
have to be so loud it would make things worse.

 

[Sylvia Else]

This whole no headphones while driving BS needs some rethinking. Road
safety cannot depend on the driver's ability to hear traffic noises.

There is no restriction on posessing a D/L if deaf. I can drive a Harley
with open pipes or a truck with enough gearbox/engine noise to mask an
approaching siren. Or a Bently with enough insulation that I can't hear
one either.

Depend? No. But the more information you receive about the goings-on in
your driving environment, the better it must be. And a motorcyclist is
particularly vulnerable if there is an accident.

Sylvia.

 

[Ban]

Depend? No. But the more information you receive about the goings-on
in your driving environment, the better it must be. And a
motorcyclist is particularly vulnerable if there is an accident.

Sylvia

In Europe it's illegal to use headphones when driving a bike
ciao Ban
..

 

[legg]

No, but I've never had to.

I use moulded plugs with air tubes leading to acoustic drivers. I have
the volume quite low, because the plugs block most of the noise anyway.

The plugs are not absolutely quite, and as long as the volume isn't
loud, I can still get some road noise. Certainly horns and truck engines.


I really don't see the point of it, why use noise-cancelling ears if
you're just going to re-introduce said noise back in again?

I agree, although my bike has no engine on it.

The volume on my 'noise' source is low enough to be wiped out entirely
by local traffic - can't hear it within 100 feet of a truck engine. I
also only use one ear for this, not both.

I suspect that the actual problem is the noise from the motorcycle.

RL

 

[John Tserkezis]

I agree, although my bike has no engine on it.

Neither do four of mine.

The volume on my 'noise' source is low enough to be wiped out entirely
by local traffic - can't hear it within 100 feet of a truck engine. I
also only use one ear for this, not both.

I suspect that the actual problem is the noise from the motorcycle.

Bicycle noise is very very different from motorcycle noise. You get to
hear every little bit of traffic noise. Wind noise is mostly a
non-issue, and even when you *think* it's loud, it probably isn't.

Then there's motorcycle noise. You're travelling a LOT faster. Yes,
yes, I've done around 55mph on my bicycle, but that's the exception to
the rule, it's not a routine thing.

It's a far cry from spending hours on the freeway at ~70mph.
THAT'S noise.