Best Headphones for Anxiety
One of my biggest anxiety triggers is loud noises. Car horns, lots of chatter, even the TV being a smidge too loud can set me off. I grew up in a very stressful household environment, with lots of yelling and arguing. Anything could set my parents off, from a plate falling onto the counter to a toothbrush being left out of place.
Fun times.
The easiest way I’ve found to calm myself in a crowded place (think Times Square or Las Vegas) is to tuck a pair of noise canceling headphones into my pocket.
I’m not going to lie. The tech is still so new that these headphones aren’t really cheap. However, the pairs I mention below I’ve had for quite a while, and have been through a ton of travel. They still work, they’re still great, and I still recommend them.
First off is the Apple Airpods Pro with Active Noise Cancellation. Other airpods are great, but it’s the active noise cancelling that really does the trick here. It makes everything around you go silent; the humming from the air conditioning, the background noise of the tv, the guy on the train with his speakerphone turned way up talking about the bunion on his foot…everything. Lifesavers.
I can only wear these for a short period of time, because my ears tend to push any foreign object right out. This works out fine, because the battery on these suckers only lasts about 5-6 hours. When it gets to 20% battery it let’s you know, too. Just throw them back in the case and charge them some more; the stats say 5 minutes of charge in the case to one hour of battery life.
It does bring me to my next suggestion: Bose Noise Canceling Headphones 700. These are over-ear headphones, and the battery life is around 20 hours. I wear these on the plane, to cut down on the sound of the motor, and the flat structure allow me to lay on these pretty comfortably. My partner, B, is a pretty loud snorer, and we also live in a condo so this cuts down on the sounds of people above and next to our unit.
They are a bit sensitive to the touch; there have been several nights where I have shifted or turned, and have either changed the channel of my white noise maker on my phone, or I’ve turned it off completely. Usually I just have to reset it again, but I wish the controls weren’t so sensitive.
While I haven’t tried these, I’ve also heard great things about the Soundcore by Anker Life Active Noise Canceling Headphones, but haven’t tried them myself.
Which noise cancellation headphones are your favorite?
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