ANC headphones sound quality varies with noise environment and noise reduction performance.

Evidence

A panel of consumers and trained listeners then evaluate the headphone recordings through a pair of calibrated headphones and provide ratings on different spectral and spatial attributes, as well as overall basic quality. The listening test results report significant differences in sound quality that vary depending on the performance of the ANC and type of noisescape played. — Toole, Floyd E, Sound reproduction- the acoustics and…, 1759

Categorization

• XREF: Ties to the reader’s psychoacoustic modeling interest: ANC performance as a function of signal context parallels models of masking and perceptual quality.