Great Headphones for Misophonia – Bose and Parrot

All noise cancelling headphones are not created equal.  If you want to see the real benefit noise cancelling headphones have to offer, you need to try the best.  Traditionally, noise cancelling headphones try to eliminate steady background noise such as the air conditioner fan or the roar in an airplane.  But with misophonia, you need to have single occurrence sounds blocked.  Starting with the Bose QC20, Bose headphones try to block single occurrence sounds, such as speech or chewing.  I tried a pair of Beats headphones that were owned by a client, and I could not tell the difference for a single “thud” sound with noise cancelling on and off.  I can’t say that all headphones except new Bose and Parrot don’t work for misophonia, but I can say that Bose and Parrot work great.

The Bose QC20 (wired) and QC30 (Bluetooth) are earbud style.  They seal against the ear canal and so do not create pain in the ear canal from prolonged use.  A great feature of these is the “aware” mode.  You push a button and you hear as if you were not wearing headphones.  Push the button again, and you go into silence.  Wonderful feature!  These headphones also work with your smartphone, so you can use them to talk on the phone.  This can be terrific if you need to talk on the phone in an open office setting.