Don't those only really work with low-pitched repetitive background noise? They don't do a lot for people talking.

I do have noise canceling headphones and I like them, but they don't really do a lot for people talking.

I have Bose noise canceling headphones, and my experience with them is that they do a really good job of blocking conversational noise if you use them with music.

Same experience here. The downside is situations where people end up standing behind or near me to get my attention. Have been startled many times. Still, for an open office they seem a must have.

Get some 3M work tunes headphones. Really cheap and they work much better than active noise canceling headphones.

Did you read parent poster? What good are noise-cancelling headphones if you can't listen to music because it's distracting?

Noise cancelling headphones can cancel noise without any music playing.

It's not 100%, but they'll get rid of like 80% of the background noise without playing anything. To get that last 20% yeah you need something playing to help mask it(even at an extremely low volume).

Sometimes I wear mine with nothing playing while at work just to get rid of random office chatter.

You can use them to tune out noise around you. It muffles conversations, keyboard clacking, people sniffling, airconditioning noise, etc.

Seems you failed to realise that 'noise-cancelling' headphones is good for noise cancelling, not just listening to music.

My Bose QC35 set is ~4 years old, on their second set of muffs and only play sound when I fly, once or twice a year.

You can get a nice pair of ear muffs for much less.

But the parent was also talking about ambient stuff. Noise-cancelling headphones would definitely help.

They're cancelling noise whether or not you're listening to music ;-) Sweet sound of silence.