Workplace Adjustment: Noise-Canceling Headphones
What is it?
Noise-canceling headsets and headphones use a combination of passive soundproofing and active noise control to reduce exposure to unwanted background noise and improve the signal-to-noise ratio when listening to music or another sound source through the headset.
How does it help?
Individuals with auditory, cognitive, sensory, and learning impairments may have difficulty working around loud, persistent, and even quiet ambient sounds in the workplace. Most traditional workplaces ban the use of noise-canceling headphones, believing them to cause distraction. However, many neurodivergent individuals especially find noise-canceling headphones improve their concentration at work by blocking out distracting and sometimes painful sounds around them.
Noise-cancelling headphones can help employees with:
ADHD
Attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder (AD/HD) is a neurobehavioral disorder that affects three to five percent of American children and adults. The common characteristics of AD/HD are impulsivity, inattention, and/or over-activity.
Noise-canceling headphones can be great for people with ADHD to help reduce distractions by the noise in their environment. For many employees with ADHD, the amount of noise at work can be overwhelming. Having access to noise-canceling headphones helps people focus by having less external sensory stimulation.
Autism Spectrum Disorders
Sound sensitivity — also known as hyperacusis — is common in autistic people. Some noises might make you uncomfortable, especially loud or shrill noises, but many people are sensitive to quieter sounds, too.
While some noises annoy everyone, some autistic people may react very strongly to certain sounds. These noises cause unwanted intrusions that the person can’t ignore.
Hyperacusis can make it difficult to be in shared workspaces due to the vast range of sounds present. Noise cancelling headphones may be helpful for removing discomfort and increasing attention, focus, and relaxation at work.
Hyperacusis
Hyperacusis describes physical discomfort or pain when any sound reaches a certain level of loudness that would be tolerable for most people. Hyperacusis can make it difficult to be in shared workspaces due to the vast range of sounds present. Noise cancelling headphones may be helpful for removing discomfort and increasing attention, focus, and relaxation at work.
Misophonia
Misophonia refers to intense emotional reactions to certain sounds (often body sounds such as chewing and sniffing) that are not influenced by the perceived loudness of those sounds.
Noise sensitivity
Noise sensitivity refers to increased reactivity to sounds that may include general discomfort (annoyance or feeling overwhelmed) due to a perceived noisy environment, regardless of its loudness.
Phonophobia
Phonophobia describes anticipatory fear of sound. Phonophobia is an emotional response such as anxiety and avoidance of sound due to the “fear” that sound(s) may occur that will cause a comorbid condition to get worse (e.g., tinnitus) or the sound itself will result in discomfort or pain.
Looking for more detailed information on workplace adjustments?
The Job Accommodation Network (JAN) is the leading source of free, expert, and confidential guidance on job accommodations and disability employment issues. Serving customers across the United States and around the world for more than 35 years, JAN provides free practical guidance and technical assistance on job accommodation solutions, and self-employment and entrepreneurship options for people with disabilities.
Do you want to be a more inclusive and accessible employer?
Take this 15-minute Disability Inclusive Employer Self-Assessment to gain a deeper understanding of where you’re doing well and where there’s room to improve.
Open Door Group and Presidents Group collaborated on this tool, created from recent international research on practices that truly increase inclusion and retention of people with disabilities in the workplace.