I’ve been diagnosed with ADHD, and I’ve noticed that I sometimes get sensory overload, when my kid (5, also neurodivergent) starts humming, or other loud conversations etc, I get physical pain from the sustain loud (or just high level) noise. I’ve been using my AirPod Pro with no music with just noise cancelling to help. Anyone else in a similar situation? What do you do to help?
You might benefit from headphones that have more passive noise isolation. A closed-back over-ear headphone like Sony WH-1000XM4 which reduces by around 28 dB overall (scroll down to isolation test results) while Airpods Pro do about 21 dB. 7 dB difference is very noticeable even though it look like much, theoretically more than twice as loud.
I have the 1000XM3 which do 30dB reduction, and I rate them highly. You’ll need to check test results for different models and brands, over-ear closed-ear headphones don’t necessarily guarantee great isolation but it helps. It’s also worth trying to figure out if there are specific frequencies which get you - I struggle with high pitches like dentist drills and screaming children, for example.
Beyond that, I suspect you need to look into things with an EN 352 or ANSI S3.19 standard. Items like earmuffs and plugs have NRR (Noise Reduction Ratings) in the US and SNR (Single Number Rating) in the UK which will tell you how many dB they block.
I have the xm4 headphones and they do a great job at cancelling noise. Where they start to fall short is in an airplane, but you can couple them with etymotic? research noise reducing ear plugs to make up the difference.
I also have a pair of Sony over the ear noise cancelling (forgot the exact model number) the issue is that they’re bulky. I bought the AirPod Pro because they’re so much smaller.
Yep, I haven’t found any smaller compromises I can make for this problem, it’s up to you if this one is worth it.
I only wear the headphones sometimes for the bulk reason, but I also go out of my way to have quiet environments to begin with. I suspect you want to keep your child though, so I didn’t bother to suggest that.
Indeed, disposing of the child is not an option 😊