Noise-cancelling headphones are unquestionably popular, but they’re not the right choice for everyone. Active noise cancellation can cause intense discomfort for some people, while others may discover that the sounds they hope to eliminate are still coming through loud and clear.

Before you invest in noise-cancelling headphones, it’s important to understand exactly how noise-cancelling technology works—and what side effects may result when it works well.

Suffering in silence

Many people can just buy top-brand noise-cancelling headphones, put them on, and enjoy their next flight in peace. But some people may find that they can’t stand wearing noise-cancelling headphones for more than a few minutes because they feel pressure in their eardrums—a phenomenon we call “eardrum suck” because it feels like the pressure decrease you experience when riding a high-speed elevator. This pain can be intense enough that people end up stuffing their expensive noise-cancelling headphones in a drawer (as we did) or giving them away.

Eardrum pain is the least of the problems for some listeners, who have told us they also experience headaches, dizziness, or nausea. And the more powerful the noise cancelling, the worse the problem seems to be. Sure, you might be able to turn off the noise-cancelling function and make the problem go away, but then the extra money you likely spent to get noise-cancelling headphones will have been wasted.

Eardrum suck seems to be psychosomatic—there’s no measurable air-pressure difference in noise-cancelling headphones (and yes, we did try to measure it). After speaking with some engineers who have worked on noise-cancelling headphones, we’ve surmised that it likely occurs because of the way some people’s brains process the dramatic and uneven change in sound that happens when they turn on the active noise cancellation. (For an explanation of how active noise cancellation works, check out our guide to the best noise-cancelling headphones.) The brain may interpret this shift as a decompression, and it tells your eardrums they’re being sucked out, even though they’re just fine. But the brain rules the body, so pain is the result.

The effectiveness of active noise cancelling (ANC) is usually limited to lower frequencies of sound, below 1 kHz. (Play this video to get an idea of what such a sound is like.) This prevents feedback, or the howl you hear when someone puts a microphone in front of a PA speaker. So you get noise cancelling in the bass frequencies (think jet engine noise) but none in the midrange (voices) and treble (hiss from the airplane’s ventilation system).

Fortunately, the effects subside when you stop using active noise cancellation, and they don’t seem to have a lasting impact. However, for those who suffer from eardrum suck, knowing that the effect is psychosomatic does nothing to ease the discomfort.

Unfortunately, we haven’t found any studies or articles that investigate people’s reactions to noise-cancelling headphones. But the introduction of the Bose Noise Cancelling Headphones 700, a pair of over-ear headphones with noise cancelling that you can adjust on a 0-to-10 scale, made it possible for us to dig a little deeper to help Wirecutter readers make the best decisions about what kinds of headphones to buy.

We began by polling 70 Wirecutter staffers to get a better idea of what people’s experiences with noise-cancelling headphones have been. Of the 34 who said they had used noise-cancelling headphones, 18 (52 percent) said they had experienced some level of discomfort—which they described as a pain in their ears, a feeling that their ears needed to pop, dizziness, headaches, or nausea. Granted, our survey might be skewed because it included tech-savvy Wirecutter staffers, but if we were to ask random people on the street if they have ever experienced eardrum suck, we might be arrested.

Wirecutter senior editor Harry Sawyers evaluates headphone noise isolation while portable speakers play airplane cabin noise. Photo: Rozette Rago

Wirecutter staff writer Nancy Redd opines on the noise isolation of the DirectSound Serenity II headphones. Photo: Rozette Rago

Our headphone testers heard a mix of noise recorded on four different airliners, sourced from an Android phone and played through portable speakers. Photo: Rozette Rago

Wirecutter senior editor Harry Sawyers evaluates headphone noise isolation while portable speakers play airplane cabin noise. Photo: Rozette Rago

Wirecutter staff writer Nancy Redd opines on the noise isolation of the DirectSound Serenity II headphones. Photo: Rozette Rago 1 of 3

We then tested 11 staffers who reported experiencing eardrum suck to make sure they were experiencing actual eardrum suck, and to find out what level of ANC triggered the effect. We started by playing a mixture of noise recorded in four different jet airliners through portable speakers and placing different headphones on our subjects from behind so that they couldn’t tell what they were wearing.

First up was the DirectSound Serenity II, which does not actively cancel noise; we knew that if our subjects reported having eardrum suck with this set of headphones, they were actually experiencing some other type of discomfort, so we disqualified them. We disqualified four participants at this step.

We then moved on to the MEE Audio Matrix Cinema ANC, a pair that our tests show produces a relatively mild noise-cancelling effect, and then to the Bose QuietComfort 35 Series II, which we’ve found to deliver great noise cancelling but strong eardrum suck. We finished by asking the subjects to wear the Bose Noise Cancelling Headphones 700 and to adjust the headphones until they found the best compromise between eardrum suck and effective noise cancelling.

All seven remaining test subjects felt eardrum suck with the Bose QC35 II and NC 700, and they used Bose’s app to adjust the NC 700’s ANC to a point at which they didn’t feel eardrum suck but still got a useful amount of noise cancellation. The level on the 0-to-10 scale varied from participant to participant: one 4, one 5, two 6, one 7, and two 8.

The fact that our test subjects’ results differed within a fairly wide range means we can’t say for sure which headphones will produce eardrum suck and which won’t. However, we can measure headphones to identify the frequency range in which their noise cancelling is effective—and if it’s similar to what we measured from the Bose NC 700 at a setting of 4 or 5, we can warn you that the headphones might produce eardrum suck.

Before choosing a set of noise-cancelling headphones, you should find out if you’re vulnerable to eardrum suck. Many Bose dealers feature active displays that let you try the headphones. All of the over-ear Bose models we’ve tried can produce eardrum suck, but not the QuietComfort 20 or the QuietControl 30, which are earbuds rather than over-ear headphones—and we’re not sure why the effect appears to happen less frequently with earbuds. Or you might have a friend who owns Bose noise-cancelling headphones that you can try.

If you feel discomfort when wearing noise-cancelling headphones, either choose a model with adjustable ANC or buy a pair with relatively mild (although less effective) ANC. Or consider noise-cancelling earbuds, such as the 1More Dual-Driver BT ANC. Except for the new Apple AirPods Pro, none of the noise-cancelling earbuds we’ve tried have produced eardrum suck in our tests.

Even if you don’t experience eardrum suck when you try these headphones, it’s a good idea to buy from an outlet that has a generous return policy, in case you develop discomfort after a few hours.

How do noise-cancelling headphones work? (And why don’t they seem to work sometimes?)

Another issue that may hinder someone’s enjoyment of noise-cancelling headphones stems from having unrealistic expectations. Many people believe that noise-cancelling headphones will block any noise that’s bothering them, but that’s not how the technology works.

As we mentioned above, active noise cancelling is usually limited to lower frequencies of sound, below 1 kHz. (Again, play this video if you want to know what that’s like.) The technology can do an amazing job of eliminating jet engine noise. But what if the noise you want to reduce isn’t down there in the low frequencies with jet engines and Barry White? What if you want a barrier against the chatter of co-workers, the howl of a neighbor’s dog, or the screaming of an unhappy child? Other styles of headphones might be better at blocking these more common (and annoying) types of noise: Salvation comes not from fancy circuitry but from the physical design of the headphones—that is, the material the earcups are made of and the way the earpads seal around your ears.

Many of the best noise-cancelling headphones also have earcups and earpads designed to block as much mid- and high-frequency noise as possible. However, some passive (non-noise-cancelling) headphones might serve you just as well. Almost any closed-back, over-ear headphones will do a reasonable job of attenuating the sounds of conversation, children at play, and the gurgling espresso machines at Starbucks. The over-ear headphones with the best passive attenuation, such as the DirectSound Serenity II pair we mentioned above, can’t completely block these higher-frequency sounds, but they can muffle it to the point where it’s not terribly distracting.

The most reliable way we’ve found of blocking higher-frequency sounds is to use earbuds that are designed to go deep into your ear canals, such as the Campfire Audio Comet, the top pick in our best earbuds guide. We’ve found that many audiophile-style earphones with over-ear cable routing, which can allow the earphones to go deeper into the ear and to fill up more of the earlobe, also do well at blocking higher-frequency sounds. Using foam tips—which come with the Comet and are also available from third-party suppliers such as Comply—can also help.

Figuring out what kinds of external noise you need to block, and what kind of noise-cancelling (or non-noise-cancelling) headphones or earbuds are right for you, may be just as important as the way the headphones sound, feel, and look. We hope we’ve provided some helpful information here, and we encourage you to share your personal experiences in the comments section below to give us a better idea of how prevalent “eardrum suck” is and how people experience it.