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Nice write-up recently in The New York Times by my old
friend and colleague David Pogue, regarding the latest generation of
noise-cancelling headphones. Dave is a good guy -- we did some work together recently
in a top-secret gadget consortium out of Geneva.
We're contractually obliged to certain non-disclosure terms, but I think you'll
be pleasantly surprised by the new iToothpick initiative coming out next week.
What I appreciate about Pogue's style is that he takes a
refreshing, practical, hands-on approach to technology assessment. In the NYT
piece, he sets an ambitious agenda -- to compare 10 different models of
headphones aimed at the beleaguered commuter. Ever the stalwart professional,
Pogue actually takes all ten sets with him on a three-legged trip involving
planes, trains and automobiles. ("Airport security probably thought I was
a little unbalanced, and my seatmates thought I had some kind of attention
deficit disorder.")
 There are essentially two types of noise reduction with
high-end headphones. "Passive" reduction involves the strict physical
properties of the headphone as they seal on or around your ears.
"Active" reduction is more interesting: External microphones monitor
the ambient noise in your airplane, train compartment, what-have-you, then
generate oppositional frequencies within the earphone. The competing
frequencies, ideally, cancel each other out -- resulting in a kind of
"white noise" effect that registers as blessed silence. Active
reduction works best with low-frequency noises -- that piercing scream from the
toddler in seat 4-C is going to overcome all earthly technology. Passive
reduction works to minimize such upper-register phenomena.
All of the headphones Pogue tests can, of course, be plugged
into whatever music gadget or playback device you have on hand. The high-end
Bose devices, which run up to $350, earn Pogue's highest praise, but he notes
also that competitors Panasonic and Audio-Technica now offer comparable quality
at half the price. Myself, I'm waiting for the day when commercial airlines
offer full sensory deprivation tanks. Until then, I'll continue to rely upon my
prototype network of teleportation cubes. You can't beat the convenience,
although I occasionally end up in Cleveland,
for some reason. Back to the beta testing....
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