Noise Canceling Headsets

I have a pair of Bose noise-cancelling headsets and they are large and comfortable and work very well.  But very expensive.   

I also have a Sony Noise Cancelling headset, model No.  MDR-NC40.  These are only $35 new, if you can find them new on Amazon (which is a sometimes thing).  Retail they are about $69, I think.

They are called Ultra-Lightweight Noise Canceling 90% Ambient Noise Reduction head set.   They work well on planes, to cancel out continuous noise of engines.  They have a single AAA battery that handles the noise reduction, and you can turn it on and off.  Of course it has a plug for your iPod device so you can listen to music or whatever and have the noise cancellation at the same time. Battery seems to last a long, long time.  It comes with a very nice black leather-look case, about the size of the palm of your hand.

I have found them to have very good fidelity and be very comfortable on my ears.  As a plus they fold up pretty tiny and will fit in carry-on stuff super well.  They are quite adjustable as well.  The R and L markings for the ears are there, but hard to read (black on black).   They are also very good for walking a mile or two a day as well, never interfere with my walking and they give me something of interest (usually a lecture, or book on tape, but sometimes music) to think about.   

I didn’t find those little stick-in-your ear headphones to be fun for me, thus this over-the-ear system is a welcome option.  You can hear the flight attendant fairly well, it cancels out steady noises to a greater degree than “irregular sounds”.