TABLE OF CONTENT

CONTENT PAGE

1. Introduction-------------------------------------------- 1
2. Background Study----------------------------------- 1
3. Application--------------------------------------------- 2
4. Discussions-------------------------------------------- 4
5. Conclusions-------------------------------------------- 5
6. References---------------------------------------------- 6
7. Appendices--------------------------------------------- 7

INTRODUCTION
The world is filled with multitude of sound. Sound can be say as way of
communication, warn of danger, or a source of entertainment. However, when sound
has become an excess when it has disturbed the normal activities and thus affect the
quality of our life, it leads to noise pollution. Noise pollution is defined as unwanted
and obstructing sound. Our surrounding is filled with different kind of sound such as
sound from the construction site and loud traffic from the metropolitan road. This kind
of sound is quite annoying because it is loud and happens frequently especially
when is the most relaxing time in a day which is the sleeping time. When the quality
of sleep has been disturbed, the concentration in our work or study in the next day
will be influenced. Is that really we cant shake off this irritating sound and have to
bear with it through our whole lives? The advanced of technology proved that the
noise can be cancel off.
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According to Mason.B, in1934, the first noise control system was invented by Paul
Lueg. The system was design to advance the wave and depriving the arbitrary
sounds in the region around a loudspeaker. According to Simon.H (2015), the
system was further modified by Lawrence J. Fogel to cancel the noise in helicopter
and airplane cabin in 1950s. According to Mohit.P, in 1957, the noise control system
was applied to a headset by Willard Meeker. Nowadays, there are many well design
noise cancellation devices have been introduced to the public, for example, noise
cancelling devices for room, office, sleeping, electronic product and so on. These
devices will block the noise in the surrounding and thus will create a soothing
personal space.

BACKGROUND STUDY
According to Benjamin.H (1999), sound is a pressure waves which consist of areas
with high pressure (compressions) and low pressure (rarefactions). Noise
cancellation also known as active noise control (ANC) or active noise reduction
(ANR). It is sound reduction using a power source which is well suitable for low
frequency.
Interference is the effect of superposition of two waves originating from two coherent
sources. Superposition is the vector sum for displacement of component waves to
form a resultant wave. Sources which are coherent produce waves of the same
frequency, amplitude, wavelength and are in phase. The resultant of superposition of
the two coherent waves gives either constructive interference or destructive
interference. Constructive interference is the superposition of two waves which are in
phase to produce a resultant wave with maximum amplitude. While destructive
interference is the superposition of two waves which are opposite phase to produce
a resultant wave with zero amplitude. In the condition of destructive interference,
dead spots occur where the place has no sound can be heard at all.
The concept of noise cancelling devices is based on producing an anti-noise signal
which destructively interferes with the original sound and cancels out the original
sound. When there is two destructive interference meet together with same
frequency, amplitude and wavelength but in opposite waveforms which, the resultant
wave will be cancel out forming a silence surrounding.
APPLICATIONS
Noise cancellation technology is used to enhance our daily life. With this technology,
there are many devices like noise-cancelling headphones or earphones, noise-
cancelling microphones headsets, noise-cancelling apps, noise-cancelling machine
such as white noise sound machine, ear plugs, noise-cancelling foam sheets and
panels. The main purpose of all of these application are used to cancel out the
unwanted sounds from entering to our ears.
Nowadays, headphones or earphones have become one of the necessary in our life
as these products can prevent interruption while we are doing our own works.
Headphones or earphones are just like a mini speaker that we use it to listen to the
music. In fact, headphones or earphones always have been a danger to our hearing

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if we volume up the sound too loudly for a long time. In order to get a better quality in
music and do not get hurting to our ears, we can replace the headphone to noise-
cancelling headphones or earphones as these products can block all the unwanted
ambient sounds from our surrounding and provide more enjoyable listening
experience to us. Furthermore, it can also provide a normal sound volume that
suitable for us, we will not have to listen to the music as loudly. There are a lot of
function of the noise-cancelling headphones and earphones which are we can get
high quality sounds that without any disturbing external sounds when listen to our
favorite music or watch drama and block the outside sounds. For the new era of
globalization nowadays, headphones or earphones have become more convenient
which it have small size and easy to carry to anywhere, some headphones or
earphones even use wireless version that can be connected to our devices though
Bluetooth.
Noise-cancelling microphone headsets are created to remove the environment noise
and it helps us a lot in our daily life. The usage and function of these products will be
a bit different from the noise-cancelling headphones and earphones. Noise-
cancelling headsets work by detecting only our voice vibrations though our jaw bone
and it can recognize the correct voice that come out from our mouth. Moreover,
when we are using these products we can have a conversation with our caller
anywhere under normal voice level, conducting a business call or receiving a call
while we are driving. Actually, air conduction hearing is used on regular phones by
using outer ears to detect the sound waves then transport into our inner ears. Noise-
cancelling microphone headsets have already combine this technology with the bone
conducting hearing technology. It will detect our sound vibrations and directly
transport the sound waves into our inner ears. This is so called bi-directional
microphone headsets. Most of these products have already sub in the Bluetooth
function on it and wireless version, therefore it will become more convenient for us
especially for the gaming users.
Are you still searching for a good noise-cancelling app? There may be an app for
that. Apple Company had created a few noise-cancelling apps for the IPhone and
IPad users to help them solve their sleeping problem while they are in a noisy
situation. Those apps combine ambient music with slow wave and nature sounds
that mesmerize people into sleep. Those apps are free to download and the natural
sounds included rain, heartbeat, beach wave, blowing wind and so on. All of these
sounds give a comfortable and relaxation feeling for people who need a better sleep
especially for those who are travelling on a train or plane.
There are some machines that can cancel out the unwanted sounds, one of the
machines is white noise sound machine. First of all, what is white sound? White
noise is a type of noise that combining different sounds of the frequencies together.
White noise sound machines can effectively mask the disturbing background noise
at night or in the office. Sometimes, while we are in the sleeping mode, our brain will
start searching for any noises that avoid us to fall asleep but white noise sound
machine can help us to block out all the annoying noises. The functions of these
products are just like the noise-cancelling apps, it can produce soothing sounds that
give us a relaxation moment such as soothing music, ocean wave, rain, highway

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traffic and many more. There are some reasons that why we need a white noise
sound machine, this is because it can help us to build a bedtime ritual, shutting down
our busy brain especially for white-collar worker and we can sleep more soundly.
While we are falling asleep there must have a lot of noises that enter to our ears and
it cause most of us will have a same idea which is we need a good sleep at night so
that sleeping earplugs are another things that can help us to overcome this problem.
The design of the noise-cancelling earplugs are so small and easy to carry to
anywhere and it can block all the sounds from entering our ears by using the same
technology as others noise-cancelling devices but it dont play music. These
products can achieve the level of silence that we need and provide a comfort ability
for us. Some ways that we can use these things which are cancel out the sounds of
cars that passing though the street outside our home, blocking out the barking noise
from the dogs at night, reducing the noise level while we are at the concert and so
on.
Noise-cancelling foam sheets and panels can absorb sounds and prevent the
sounds from reflecting. These products are mostly used to improve the noise control
in different type of room. The thicker the foam sheets and panels, it will more
effectively absorb a longer wavelength of the sounds. They can also make music
sound better because the noise-cancelling foam sheets and panels are soft materials
that have more space between the molecules so the sound waves can be absorbed
more effectively. Hard material will reflect all the sound waves and the sound waves
cannot penetrate the hard material. Hence, soft material is the best sound absorber.
The need for a more prolific advance in audio technology in relation to the noise-
cancellation and wireless connectivity in headphones or earphones are becoming
increasingly vital for the society in the future. Nowadays, people need in better
quality for audio devices to communicate or in the way people listen to music to
enhance their listening experience with the devices that are able of providing a better
sound. We notice that noise cancellation wireless devices have made some big
changes in audio technology in the coming years. These devices can cancel out the
external sounds and make the users more concentrate on the music. One thing to be
sure that cable-free devices will become the standard in the future. In the other way
of wireless music listening are also probably to become the norm. One of the main
features that engineers worked on to make these headphones the best in the world
was improving audio quality to such a level that they offer an experience like
recorded music that sound like its being played live in front of you.

DISCUSSION
There is no denying the fact that music does heal. The world would be dull without
music. However, it is impossible for us to keep out from noise even we stay in a quiet
room.
If you listen to music on a train or any crowded public area using your normal
headphone or earphone, it wont get rid of those annoying sounds, but noise
cancelling headphones (or earphones) do. With the presence of noise cancelling

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headphones, people do not have to worry about the noise would overpowering their
headphone anymore. It is clear benefit that headphones block out external noise
superiority and provide a great experience for the listeners. Although there are some
limitation, but noise cancelling headphones still useful on many situations that users
satisfied on. In direct way, users do not have to use a high volume to enjoy their
music without disturbance of external noise. In this case, users would be able to
avoid themselves from any hearing problems as they enjoy their time by not hurting
their ears. Moreover, noise cancelling headphone is highly recommended for those
who love travel. When they travel with public transport such as plane, commuters,
train or bus, this device is a great idea to block out the noise surrounding them and
enable them to spend their time in peace. For students too, they found out that it is
hard to concentrate their mind in such annoying surrounding and the device had
solve the problem as well as improving the concentration on study and learning.
However, no matter how good one thing is, there will be disadvantages too. From
agreement of majority, the biggest disadvantage is the cost of these headphones.
Noise cancelling headphones usually cost more expensive than standard ones
because of the addition of technology of noise-cancellation. Regards to this reason
too, noise cancelling headphones will be heavier as there are additional electronics
and some require batteries. Last but not least, the most important among the
disadvantage is create from the advantage which is it would be blocking out the
important noise like alarms and causing unnecessary troubles.
Noise cancelling microphone headsets help others to hear you better. It ensure that
only the sound from your mouth are being pick up but not the background noise. It is
the best choice for open office or busy contact center. The shorter boom arm of this
device taking the advantage of information picked up by two identical microphones.
For the hearing part, it works likely as the noise cancelling headphones or
earphones. The disadvantages are the device have to get in the right position in
order to pick up the voice. The technology of Automatic Gain Control (AGC) in this
device sometimes bring trouble for the users. When there are multiple devices which
have this capability involved, the AGC will automatically lower the transmit level while
the other will be increased. This causing one side having loud voice but the other
having low voice.
White noise sound machine is a great ideal for light sleeper. It reduces the
disturbances and enable you to rest better. The machine actually absorb all the
annoying sound and replace with calming sound. Also, there are many type of white
noise machines with different size and pattern in the market which are easy to carry
and suitable for trips or vacations. Moreover, it brings no side effect or health risks
too. Although it is beneficial, but finding a better machine will cost higher. It also
make users too dependent on it.
Noise-cancelling foam sheets and panels are suitable for recording studio, jamming
room, multipurpose hall, sound proof room, auditorium, and so on. The foam sheets
help to absorb the sound wave instead of blocking the sound wave. It does help to
lesser the sound wave and it is suitable to treat a room which has echo and create a
quiet, comfortable area.

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CONCLUSION
Technology is all about the changing of ideas into something tangible. Technology
has without doubt transformed our lives into something much better as the inventions
can bring a lot of convenient to our life. With the invention of noise cancellation
devices, there was a great impact on our environment because the devices can
reduce the noise pollution by cancel the unwanted noise that happens daily.
According to Stephen.S (2016), noise pollution will affect human health. Noise
exposure will increase the stress of a person. As time passes, it will lead to
cardiovascular diseases such high blood pressure and atherosclerosis. Besides, with
the help of noise cancellation devices, we can also have a good sleeping time
without any disturbance. All in all, noise cancellation devices should become the
essential item in our daily life in order to ensure health of next generation.

REFERENCES
1. Mason.B, (n.d.). Design and Mechanisms of an Active Noise Canceling System.
Retrieved from http://masonbretan.com/Design-and-Mechanisms-of-an-Active-
Noise-Canceling-System.php
2. Simon.H, (10 June 2015). Simulation of Active Noise Control.
3. Retrieved from http://simon.traberlarsen.dk/website/documents/projects/2015/anc.pdf
4. Mohit.P, (n.d.). Invention Story: Noise Cancelling Headphones. Retrieved from
http://www.engineersgarage.com/invention-stories/noise-cancelling-headphones
5. Benjamin.H, (1999). Physics of Sound. Retrieved from https://method-behind-the-
music.com/mechanics/physics/
6. Stephen.S, (5 February 2016). How noise pollution can affect your health. Retrieved
from http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/features/how-
noise-pollution-can-affect-your-health-a6853746.html
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