{"id":34066,"date":"2025-05-14T10:10:55","date_gmt":"2025-05-14T10:10:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kuulokenurkka.com\/?p=34066"},"modified":"2025-05-14T10:13:43","modified_gmt":"2025-05-14T10:13:43","slug":"are-anc-headphones-of-no-use-in-an-open-office","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kuulokenurkka.com\/en\/vastamelukuulokkeistako-ei-hyotya-avotoimistossa\/","title":{"rendered":"No benefit from noise-cancelling headphones in an open office?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Author: Sword of Damocles<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n

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\"open-plan<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n
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Offices are promised peace of mind with noise-cancelling headphones \u2013 Research shows the promises are unfounded<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Among others YLE<\/a> and Iltasanomat<\/a> and Iltalehti<\/a> recently reported on a Finnish study, according to which noise-cancelling headphones do not guarantee peace of work or improve work efficiency in an open-plan office environment. This is a study conducted by Turku University of Applied Sciences, or more precisely, its Built Environment research group study<\/a>, which would seem to be partly based on a thesis approved at the University of Turku in 2023 Master's thesis<\/a> from the psychology major. Even Turku University of Applied Sciences' own headline (mentioned above as a quote) about the research results seemed so sensational and doubt-raising that I had to take a look at the study and write about the weaknesses I observed in it. Jasse Kesti, who works as a product designer for Valco, has also delightfully done the same in his blog post<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The study briefly investigated whether noise-cancelling headphones can reduce the annoyance of speech noise in a simulated open-plan office environment and thus improve work efficiency. It was found that mere noise cancellation attenuated speech noise so little that the headphones on average did not improve test results, i.e., work efficiency, in the case of 52 test subjects. Subjectively evaluated, however, speech noise became less disturbing when a masking sound, played through the headphones, was combined with the noise-cancelling function, which, as its name suggests, covered\/masked the audibility of speech. In my opinion, there is fundamentally nothing wrong with the study, and its limitations have been correctly presented in the discussion section. However, a few important points have received too little attention, and some of the conclusions have even been distorted in the reporting. The study design was generally quite unrealistic, which is why, in my opinion, the results do not give a truthful picture of the benefits of noise-cancelling headphones in an office environment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Test headphones poorly chosen<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The JBL Tune 750BTNC, released in 2020, was selected as the test headphones for the study, and is said to have met all selection criteria, such as the functionalities required by the study design, good availability, and an average price of 180 euros. That's fine, but this particular headphone model, which cost 50\u201360 euros at its cheapest (already discontinued from the market), also happens to be among the weakest offerings on the market in terms of both passive and active noise cancellation. As a reminder, it should be mentioned that the structure of headphones always passively attenuates high frequencies, whereas an active noise-cancelling function is needed for attenuating low frequencies (below 600 Hz). Mid-range frequencies and human speech partly fall into the range between the most attenuated frequency areas, but good noise-cancelling headphones attenuate them quite adequately.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The JBL Tune 750BTNC is therefore not a good noise-cancelling headphone, but it attenuates according to measurements made by RTINGS.com measurements<\/a> based on mid-frequencies only about 12.75 decibels. The research group at Turku University of Applied Sciences also mentions the noise-cancelling function's effectiveness as a modest 2\u201314 decibels. For comparison, the best noise-cancelling headphones on the market, such as Bose QuietComfort Ultra<\/a>, are capable of attenuating mid-frequencies by almost 30 decibels, while the cheapest, costing around 200 euros, Sony WH-1000XM4<\/a> and Bose QuietComfort<\/a> (basic model) also achieve an attenuation power of about 25 decibels. In fact, most noise-cancelling headphones costing 100\u2013200 euros nowadays offer at least 20 decibels of attenuation at human \u201dspeech frequencies\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Naturally, not all headphone models I mentioned were sold at the time of the study, but it goes without saying that the JBL Tune 750BTNC does not properly represent modern noise-cancelling technology. However, this is not mentioned at all in the news coverage related to the study, even though the study itself does state that only one headphone model ended up in the test. Unfortunately, this observation is also refuted in an Iltasanomat news article with the statement \u201dThe results apply to all types of noise-cancelling headphones, as they apply the same technology\u201d. I hope the journalist merely oversimplified, because coming from the mouth of the research group leader presented in the article, that sentence would indicate complete ignorance of the fact that the effectiveness of noise-cancelling and passive attenuation varies between headphone models.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Be that as it may, I argue that the chosen test headphones had the greatest impact on the research results achieved. With better noise-cancelling headphones, the speech noise simulated in an office environment would have been attenuated up to threefold, in which case the test subjects would certainly have found it more tolerable than with cheap JBL headphones. This might not have directly increased work efficiency during a short-term experimental situation, but enduring work 8 hours a day and 5 days a week could be a different matter. The researchers themselves at least state that the test situation did not fully correspond to the real world. Yet, news is now circulating in the media about how noise-cancelling headphones are generally a completely useless purchase for an open-plan office. In reality, the study primarily further reinforces the view of the JBL Tune 750BTNC's poor noise reduction capability. Thus, it is fundamentally a scientific review of that particular headphone model.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By selecting a better headphone model as a comparison, the research group might have been able to conclude that combating noise nuisances in open-plan offices requires a significant financial investment from companies and employees in effective noise-cancelling headphones, whereas inexpensive headphone models and low-efficiency noise reduction are of little benefit for workplace peace. This would have immediately broadened the results and the discussion surrounding them. Now, at least I am left wondering how the test subjects would have performed with better noise-cancelling headphones, or if 25\u201330 decibels of attenuation would have been enough to make speech noise reproduced at a volume of over 50 decibels sufficiently unnoticeable. Hopefully, the research group will repeat the study, as the current results are not very useful. The news coverage, in turn, has made them even misleading.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It must also be mentioned about the JBL Tune 750BTNC that it is a rather poor headphone from a comfort perspective as well. The small ear cushions are designed primarily for youth, not for adults for prolonged work use. For example, I myself would not be able to wear similar JBL headphones for several hours at a time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Who uses noise-cancelling headphones only as ear protectors?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Another shortcoming in the study relates to the way headphones are used during work, which Jasse Kesti also noticed in his own blog post. It was found that using masking sound with the noise-cancelling function made speech noise less noticeable, so the study recommends, for example, listening to the sound of flowing water or white noise during work. News articles further reinforce this message by emphasizing that the noise-cancelling function is not beneficial without such \u201dadditional sounds\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Isn't listening to music then counted, as it demonstrably \u201dmasks\u201d ambient noise and diverts attention from a blaring colleague? The research article dismisses this by referring to a previous study, according to which people's cognitive performance may decline when listening to music. However, I argue that the majority still prefer listening to music with their headphones rather than just white noise. It would also seem foolish to use headphones merely as ear protectors without listening to anything at the same time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some work tasks may understandably be disturbed by listening to music, but there is also music that is specifically suitable as background for work. When discussing more effective noise reduction than the JBL Tune 750BTNC, the music volume could also be kept low, so that attention remains on work tasks. On the other hand, since music generally covers noise quite effectively, the masking effect also occurs with headphones that do not include a noise-cancelling function. Considering all this, the discussion in the research article remains incomplete, as listening to music is not mentioned at all. Nor is this done in news articles, even though the topic is specifically headphones, whose primary purpose is to produce sound.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Concluding remarks<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Researching the effects of working in an open-plan office and noise-cancelling headphones is justified and important, so despite my criticism, I want to thank the research group at Turku University of Applied Sciences for their work. It is also great that the research group has had access to precise headphone measurement equipment (B&K 4100 HATS). I am actually a bit envious of this, as I would like to get to use one myself. Precisely because of the excellent facilities, I would hope for even more careful consideration regarding the research designs and the conclusions drawn from the results. On the other hand, my accusing finger also points towards the news coverage of the topic, as the usefulness of noise-cancelling headphones has been dismissed too quickly and on too flimsy grounds, based on one cheap headphone model. Sensational headlines certainly attract attention, as I myself became interested in the study based on them, but I do not consider deceiving readers to be in anyone's interest. The research results are indeed completely true according to the setup described in the article, but the conclusions have been taken too far.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let's be more careful in the future, shall we?<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We have reported on a Finnish study, according to which noise-cancelling headphones do not guarantee peace of work in an open-plan office. Is this truly the case, however? Read moreNo benefit from noise-cancelling headphones in an open office?<\/span><\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":34092,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[52,139],"class_list":["post-34066","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-artikkelit","tag-anc","tag-vastamelukuulokkeet"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/kuulokenurkka.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Vastamelukuuloketutkimus.png","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kuulokenurkka.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34066","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kuulokenurkka.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kuulokenurkka.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kuulokenurkka.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kuulokenurkka.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34066"}],"version-history":[{"count":27,"href":"https:\/\/kuulokenurkka.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34066\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":34096,"href":"https:\/\/kuulokenurkka.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34066\/revisions\/34096"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kuulokenurkka.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/34092"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kuulokenurkka.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34066"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kuulokenurkka.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34066"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kuulokenurkka.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34066"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}