Latest in Noise Canceling Headphones
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I've carried a set of noise canceling headphones in my briefcase for decades. When you're stuck in the window seat behind the jet engines on a cross-country flight, they do an amazingly good job of cutting out the drone of the turbines. On trans-oceanic flights, NC headphones mean I can sleep and not wake up with a headache from the ambient noise.
They can also be plugged into the airline sound system or into your PDA or laptop. With NC headphones, you can listen to music at a much lower volume, since you no longer need to crank up the volume to drown out the background din. They're also handy when you're running noisy equipment like a gas-powered lawn mower. Because NC headphones don't block out frequencies of the human voice, you can still hear safety announcements and flight attendant questions with them on.
During a recent search of my luggage as we were boarding a flight from Florida, my headphones disappeared from my briefcase. I reported the problem as soon as I realized they were gone [while we were airborne], and filed a formal written complaint. Thus far there has been no response from the Federal screening agency, so I bought a replacement set last week.
The new MDR-NC11 headphones from Sony are the best yet. They are smaller, lighter, more comfortable, and less expensive than the prior model, the NC10. The NC circuitry runs on a single AAA cell for many, many hours. There's a handy integral volume control, and a very clever dual prong adapter for the proprietary connectors found on some aircraft.
If you're interested in enjoying more peace and quiet on your next flight, the Sony site has more information at www.sonystyle.com. The NC11 is readily available from online discounters so there's no need to pay list price. Use your web search engine to look for retail sources.