I had read several reviews, and I thought this product was the solution to my noisy office (air planes buzzing overhead, officemates chattering away, construction going on outside, etc.). I was so excited to have a device to turn my crappy office into my own personal place of tranquility. Boy was I wrong. The product did not reduce ANY noise. They functioned like an expensive set of headphones with no noise-cancelling abilities. I sent them back. My ear plugs did a better job than these headphones. Not sure if I got a defective product. Regardless, the thing didn't work for what I needed. I'm thinking ear plugs and ear muffs might do the trick at a fraction of the cost.