Active Noise Cancelling is BAD for your ears??

[quarefellah]

:confused:Hi All,
Recently visited an audiologist and he seemed quite certain that ANR headsets were bad for your hearing. He asserted that because they transmit 'anti-noise' into your ears, you may feel better but your ears are getting just as much (if not more) noise damaging energy. Is there anyone out there who can verify or disprove this theory?
Happy flying,

QF

[victorc10]

My understanding is that whilst energy is involved in creating the anti-phase signal, the energy percieved at the ear drum is less, and indeed a good measure of that is what you can hear....which is a lot less noise than without the ANR.

If ANR is bad for your ears, it is not in the same sense that continous elevated noise levels are bad for your ears. Can the audiologist explain how? Probably not, maybe he doesn't understand the basic principles fully.