They cancel the noise by interference, generating sound that’s 180 degrees out of phase with the incoming sound (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Active_noise_control)

My guess would be not that the tinnitus gets worse from wearing noise canceling headphones, but that your ears adapt to the lower average sound levels, making them better at ‘detecting’ the tinnitus sound (the dynamic range of your ears adapts to average sound volume https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2774902/, but whether that affects the perceived volume of tinnitus isn’t clear to me)

I've had quite the opposite experience with noise-cancelling. My tinnitus has actually improved.

As a child, I noticed a high-pitched sound during a particularly windy night in Wisconsin. Over the next few days it got louder and louder to the point it was quite frightening. Obviously, I had tinnitus, but unfortunately lacked the words to describe it to my parents (or they just wanted me to go to sleep haha).

Eventually I figured out that it was a cycle. The more I focused on the sound, the louder it got. As I worked to focus on on other things, it gradually subsided over a few days.

Now, as an adult, it is with me all the time. It gets much louder some days. This can be caused by a bad night of sleep. Or random things I can't figure out. Doctors have variously mentioned salt, tomatoes, trying antihistamines, etc.

But one thing I know makes it worse is noise - especially higher frequencies. As a result, I really dislike many of the newer (pre-covid) restaurants with the hard surfaces and tinny speakers playing harsh music all the time.

My kids got me iPod Pro's for Christmas and it has been wonderful. We went to NYC and by wearing them, I was able to enjoy loud restaurants, deal with the subway, etc.

I also notice that by wearing them for even a few hours, my tinnitus is often significantly improved. My theory is that it improved by decreasing the amount of stimulation.

For those who experienced the opposite, I wonder the quiet they experience allows them to hear the tinnitus clearly for the first time? Then they begin to focus on it which increases it's apparent volume as I did when I was young.

> but whether that affects the perceived volume of tinnitus isn’t clear to me

My understanding is that varies by person and "type" of tinnitus, but I know my tinnitus is often an inverse relationship with how quiet a room I am in (though it is a slow, dynamic adjustment) and sometimes a white noise generator is helpful to turn the tinnitus volume down a bit. Noise cancelling headphones can certainly create relatively "quiet rooms" that turn up the "tinnitus volume" for me (and part of why I generally prefer headphones without noise cancelling, personally).

I have the same. The interference should mean that there's less acoustic energy, but since the anti-sound wave won't always be a perfect match with the wave being cancelled I suspect the result is that there will be soft beats[0] of very high and/or low frequency that may still stimulate the ear in a way to trigger tinnitus. The first time I put on my noise-cancelling headphones it made me dizzy - that is also likely caused by low-frequency beats.

Anyway, I just lowered the volume, that seemed to help quite a bit. I don't need the higher volume anyway now that the surrounding noises are cancelled.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beat_(acoustics)

I don't know what is happening, but you could try a few experiments: - Use them with NC on, but no meetings/music. That would show if your problem is not the 'normal' volume. - Use them with NC off. No ringing would point directly to the NC. - Use them full off. Maybe somehow its the pressure on your head.

I’ve noticed exactly the same thing. I also use QC35s but I assume the brand and model is just a coincidence - that the noise cancelling tech itself is the culprit. I don’t have any evidence one way or another for this but very interested to read that others out there are having a similar experience.

Ideally the peaks of the natural sound and the "injected anti-sound" are opposite in their relative pressure to the environment, so that they cancel out.

Maybe some almost inaudible frequency spectra, and in a lesser degree also audible frequencies, sometimes aren't phase-matched by the injected anti-sound, so that their peaks add up, creating an unnatural loud sound, which for some reason isn't perceived as harmful.

These short out-of-sync peaks could be causing the tinnitus?

(Anecdote time.)

I got myself Airpods Pro last autumn and used the transparent mode. After a few weeks my tinnitus had become way worse. After 3-4 months it had died down a bit (but not to what it used to be before the pods.)

I then used them again for a couple of days. And it became even worse. Haven't used them for 6 months and unfortunately it is still as bad.

I don't dare using them or my Bose headphones anymore. Your comment is the first I've seen relating noise cancelling with tinnitus.

You mentioned using transparent mode. It's not real transparency: there's a mic on the back/top whose input is added to the other signal coming from Bluetooth. I personally find this mode annoying af.

Have you attempted noise cancelling mode?

Have you attempted turning off the noise control altogether?

The way I understand the physics, it doesn't add to the amplitude ("energy level") of the waves, the whole point is to send out sound waves that works against the sound that's there already, making the total amount of kinetic energy that comes into your ear less.

Maybe it's an issue with lack of "natural" sound causing you to turn up the volume more, or something like that?

Same problem with QC15 here, to the point that I can’t use them anymore. I had to use them in our open office to get anything done but the ringing in my ears got pretty bad. Working from home and not listening to music has helped a bit.

First time when I put the noise cancelling headphones and turned on the cancellation, I could immediately feel a pressure of sort on my ears even though it is reducing noise.

They definitely cancel noise by 'anti-noise'.

anecdotal, but me too. purchased bose qc35s 3 months ago and started having tinnitus most nights for about a month now. never suffered from tinnitus before.

I’ve had tinnitus since I was a child and can’t stand using noise-cancelling headphones due to this

I used to use ear plugs while programming. Having almost complete silence helped so much with concentration.

Now my tinnitus is so bad that it drives me nuts to use ear plugs, I need a constant wall of noise around me.

I find earplugs help me sleep better by not having external noise distract me, and hearing only the tinnitus. By not viewing tinnitus as a threat and facing it helps massively.

damn. This made me realise my tinnitus started around the time I got my qc35s...