Think headphones are safe? This post may change your mind!
An expose of research and latest medical advice
You might remember Step 1—The Five-Minute Timer—a small but mighty strategy we introduced at home to boost writing fluency through short, focused bursts. Previous post here. This one is a definite keeper, which we’ll build upon as the program progresses. It’s connected to neurological research (which I’ll unpack at a later stage) and to a major meta-analysis—that is, a large-scale statistical review of all available research—by John Hattie, the godfather of evidence-based education. His findings show strong “effect sizes” (a measure of how much a strategy actually helps) for “goals” (0,56), “time on task” (0,62), “spaced practice” (0,60), “direct instruction” (0,59) and “teacher clarity” (0,75)—all of which are supported in this project by the cheap and cheerful sand-timer!
Now, with Ernest away for a few days with his dad, I’m turning my attention to our next steps: an inventory of “tools for learning” (Step 2), and our first club challenge— a back-to-school learning plan (Step 3)—linked at the end of this post.
To start, I checked in with Ernest using a very teacherly prompt: “Do you have the tools for learning?” Specifically, I asked whether he was still using the noise-cancelling headphones I’d sent in at the start of the year with his stationery and booklist supplies.
Concerningly, he said he hadn’t seen them lately—or at all this year.
Okay. Wait up. So you're telling me that one of the few tools that helped you focus and thrive in 2024 has just… vanished?
Oh shit. (And yes, you’ll have to forgive me—I say “shit” a lot. I’ll try to limit it to once per post.)
How could this have happened?
Of course, I hadn’t thought to explicitly check with his two new teachers. I assumed that something that worked so well last year would just… carry forward. But as we all know, assumptions are dangerous. What seems obvious to us as parents isn’t always passed on—or prioritised—at school. And while it’s possible the headphones are still floating around somewhere in the classroom, tucked in a cupboard or overlooked, I’ve decided to prepare for the worst.
I began researching a new pair almost immediately with my trusty sidekick, the Department of Education (DET) website, which presently recommends this support in their Professional Practice Guide: Inclusive Equipment and Assistive Technology. They had a small disclaimer that teachers consult a “suitably qualified professional” before introducing sensory technology. But seriously, who gets bogged down in details? Not me! Not that day! Hold tight for the twist (or the volta, if you’re into Shakespeare or Petrarchan sonnets). No? Tough crowd? Keep reading anyway. I think you’ll like it.
As a faithful government employee, I jumped—subsequently and before cross-checking anything with scholarly sources—onto Choice Magazine, Australia’s “leading consumer advocacy group”. I had hoped (naively at this point) that I might stumble across a budget gem from Kmart or Big W that, like their cult-status air fryer, would outperform the big-name brands. Sadly, no dice.
Some of the highest-rated noise-cancelling headphones were over $1,000. So definitely not in my single-mum budget. But I did find that Sony and Bose had consistently strong reviews, with scores in the mid-70s from Choice experts. Better still, these could be found on sale for around $275. Still a stretch—but maybe worth it.
Of course, I was realistic: would they actually be used? Will they work as intended? Would Ernest not lose or break them after two weeks of communal classroom chaos?
Last week’s visit to the virtual reality Titanic exhibition in Melbourne—where he and a mate both managed to crash the system by fiddling with their headsets—didn’t exactly fill me with confidence.
Still, with a 90-day satisfaction guarantee, I decided it was worth a shot.
Breaking news: the headphones have just been delivered, and WOW! The switch between “aware” and “quiet” modes is incredibly impressive! But at the same time, they’re making me feel a little weird, even woozy when to write. It’s an odd sensation—like my ears are blocked. Is this a good thing?
This brings me to a critical issue that I’m exploring throughout this Substack: Are expensive learning supports worth it?
Because—let’s be honest—this wouldn’t be the first time I’ve invested heavily in something that should help due to well-meaning yet incorrect advice. Back in 2022, Grade 2 for Ernest, I spent nearly $1,000 on two pairs of magnification glasses—one for school, one for home—complete with a multifocal element so he could shift between long vision and reading and writing. These were prescribed for 18 months after he was assessed as having a tracking issue: his eyes struggled to follow lines of text smoothly, jumping and skipping in a way that made it astonishing he could read or write at all.
The glasses were meant to steady that movement—to give his visual system the anchor it needed. In theory? Brilliant. In practice? A very expensive distraction. Ernest spent much of each lesson polishing the lenses and looking deeply scholarly in Lacoste frames—without actually doing much at all.
And this, really, is the ongoing challenge when navigating the educational support industry: tools that promise transformation often deliver mixed results. Sometimes they help. Sometimes they just… look helpful. And yet, we keep trying. Because we have to.
Also, we rely on research—I guess it’s a personal obsession—and the evidence is—oh damn, here’s the problem—somewhat inconclusive. I did find one source (Ikuta et al. 2016) on the benefits of noise-cancelling headphones for children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) “to cope with hyperreactivity to auditory stimuli”. While Dysgraphia wasn’t mentioned at any point, we could concede that, given the frequent comorbidity between ASD and Dysgraphia, the findings could still be relevant here.
What’s more, the effect size of the study was high. But, and here’s the problem, it was a pilot study, and the number of children in it who benefited from the practice was just 5, which is not statistically significant. Not even close! In fact, as Kulawaik and Schussler (2021) in Cogent Education reveal, research to date on the efficacy of noise-cancelling headphones is flimsy at best: “none of the recommendations to wear NC headphones during class refer to any empirical studies, indicating a potential research gap and lack of evidence.”
So, why, I wondered, are they so widely recommended?
Why does the DET endorse them? Why did a lecturer of a short course on learning difficulties and disorders that I completed through La Trobe University in 2022 recommend them? And why does it appear that they are commonly funded by the NDIS (Australia’s National Disability Insurance Scheme)?
Could it be the case that any impact is merely a placebo effect? Or, could it be that just any action is going to have some impact? (statistically viable or otherwise) Naturally, I hope for all of the kids who are using them to date that the impact is greater, but if so, why the hold-up with the scholarly research?
Of course, as a parent who is desperate to help their child thrive, one may say that they’ll give anything a go. It can’t hurt, right? Well, maybe it can. During my deep-dive into this issue, I came across an article in The Guardian (Sample 2025) entitled “Are noise-cancelling headphones impairing our hearing skills? Some audiologists are beginning to worry.” It caught my attention—and concern. The piece highlights a rise in reported cases of Auditory Processing Disorder (APD) in noise-cancelling headphones users. While clinical research hasn’t yet caught up, audiologists are issuing early warnings—especially for children and teens.
Claire Benton, the Vice-President of the British Academy of Audiology, explains:
Those more complex, high-level listening skills in your brain only really finish developing towards your late teens. So, if you have only been wearing noise-cancelling headphones and been in this false world for your late teens then you are slightly delaying your ability to process speech and noise.
So yes—that eerie, blocked-ear sensation I felt when I first tested them? Looks like that could be a problem.
Where to from here?
The Romans had a legal phrase that has carried through to modern law: caveat emptor—buyer beware. It feels especially relevant to me right now.
I’m questioning whether any perceived benefits outweigh the potential dangers.
At the very least, I now see there needs to be clear parameters around when and how the headphones are used—perhaps strictly during writing tasks. But how the hell do you police that when you’re not in the classroom?
It’s a tricky one—and I haven’t quite cracked yet.
I’d love to hear your thoughts.
I’ll keep you posted on how Ernest finds the new headphones—although I suspect in advance that he’ll find them pretty cool, in line with his overpriced Lacoste frames from 2022.
More soon,
— A
P.S. I’ve included a souvenir from our recent trip on the Titanic—far from optimal conditions there. Still, we look pretty cool! Shame about that iceberg!
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References:
Hattie, J. (2023). Visible learning, the sequel : a synthesis of over 2,100 meta-analyses relating to achievement / John Hattie. (First edition.). Abingdon, Oxon; Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003380542
Ikuta, N., Iwanaga, R., Tokunaga, A., Nakane, H., Tanaka, K., & Tanaka, G. (2016). Effectiveness of earmuffs and noise-cancelling headphones for coping with hyper-reactivity to auditory stimuli in children with autism spectrum disorder: A preliminary study. Hong Kong Journal of Occupational Therapy, 28(1), 24–32. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.hkjot.2016.09.001
Kulawiak, P. R. (2021). Academic benefits of wearing noise-cancelling headphones during class for typically developing students and students with special needs: A scoping review. Cogent Education, 8(1). https://doi.org/10.1080/2331186X.2021.1957530
Sample, I. (2025, February 22). Are noise-cancelling headphones impairing our hearing skills? Some audiologists are beginning to worry. The Guardian.