Many people have been doing this for years, but not everyone thinks of using AirPods or other headphones in this way. Many will have discovered the benefits of this use by chance: you pause your music but don’t take off your headphones, and you notice how much quieter you are when walking down the street or on public transport, thanks to the reduction in ambient noise they provide.
Although it may seem exaggerated to some, wearing headphones on the street, even without music, is very pleasant due to their noise cancellation, which reduces the level of noise pollution and allows us to move around the city or in noisy environments much better. It protects our peace of mind but also our ears. Now, with the noise cancellation incorporated in the new AirPods 4, it will not be necessary to resort to large headband headphones for this.
Although the earphones, due to their small size, do not seem to be very effective for this purpose, the AirPods 4 and other new earphones from other brands that are beginning to incorporate better quality noise cancellation are also going to be good options to relieve us from the noise of the city. In the case of the AirPods, it is noteworthy that they have achieved this noise reduction by being open-backed.
A recent example of how important it is to protect our ears comes from a controversy during the celebration of the MTV Video Music Awards (VMA) 2024, held on September 11. Hours later, a post went viral on social media with an image of Jack Antonoff, a popular music producer, wearing earplugs during Katy Perry’s performance. The networks immediately began to create controversy, judging that he did it because he did not want to listen to the singer, but Antonoff later commented that for him it is a custom, and that he only seeks to protect his ears from the loud sounds typical of a concert.
As Antonoff pointed out, using earplugs is not only useful in environments with more than 100 decibels, but they can also be used in different contexts (on an airplane, for sleeping) simply to better isolate ourselves from the outside world.
Hearing protection was one of the topics that Apple emphasized the most in its latest presentation, in the context of new AirPods 4 that incorporate functions related to ear health (hearing assistance menu) in its Pro version. “Thanks to improved microphones, the power of the H2 chip and advanced computational audio, AirPods 4 with Active Noise Cancellation reduce ambient noise, such as airplane engines, city traffic and much more,” the company explains.
A custom that could spread
With the introduction of tools to combat hearing loss and new technologies that are more effective at reducing ambient noise, lovers of tranquility or users of large cities could start using these devices more frequently for this purpose. Normally we only take headphones with us if we plan to listen to music while exercising or walking, but the truth is that simply wearing them, without playing any audio, can already improve our route or journey on foot.
While Apple Watch owners will benefit from a dedicated app for this purpose (the Noise app), any iPhone user can access the Health app to find out how much noise they can handle when playing music, as shown in the images above. Many will already be used to receiving alerts about the volume level, and then ignoring them.
With these features to drown out the annoying sounds of cars, shouting, crowds in shopping malls and the like, it wouldn’t be surprising if more people decided to use their AirPods as earplugs. After all, it’s not just professional musicians who should be concerned about the health of their ears.
