Photo credit: Marekich licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0
by Daniel Fink, MD, Chair, The Quiet Coalition
This report from the University of Illinois Coordinated Science Laboratory describes a method to cancel noise without ear-blocking headphones. It uses behind-the-ear technology to send sound waves to cancel the incoming sound.
I hope the technology can be commercialized--it sounds like it has promise--but to me it would be much simpler, easier, and probably cheaper to just turn down the volume of amplified sound, install sound-absorbing or sound blocking materials at the time of construction, and mandate quieter cars, trains, and airplanes.
