I had some exposure to the issue of F35B noise in the cockpit some time ago wrt its potential effects on TP aircrew following the EU directive 2003/10/EC. The noise levels in the hover are a bit of a challenge to say the least. When I discussed ANR with a specialist he seemed sceptical whether it was a truly viable solution. The problem was how to put in sufficient energy to counteract enough of the noise - not that easy (and current ANR systems don't reduce the noise energy by very much at all). It also created the problems of ANR failure; it could fail and result in no protection or fail and multiply the effects on the aircrew. Not good...
EAP