The “new” headphone technology allows noise cancellation. This can be pretty useful while listening to something in a noisy environment. But is it harmful or not? The possible answer is probably a no, but with a caveat. Of course it can be very harmful when you get hit by a car because you couldn’t hear it while crossing a street. But on the other hand it can be very protective for your ears while you’re exposed to a noisy environment. Generally speaking, active noise cancellation is not harmful to your hearing.
Now it’s time for the caveat. British physicians are more and more confronted with the so-called auditory processing and perception disorder (the brain can’t process what it hears properly). One possible cause is the noise cancelling function of headphones at a young age. The brain unlearns how to filter background noise.
