"With noise pollution becoming an ever-increasing problem in today's society, its no surprise that more companies are looking into ways to quiet things down a bit. Enter Sony's new MDR-NC50 headphones, which the company claims will reduce white noise -- a term used to describe everyday unavoidable noise -- by up to 80 percent. Behind the technology is a microphone within the headphones. This detects the sound and sends it to a new noise-canceling circuit developed by Sony. Any noise that is below the 300 hertz level, which would include jet engines, leaf blowers, subway trains, server fans and household appliances, could be virtually eliminated."Here I thought that Sony already had noise-canceling headphones, but it seems that this is a new product for Sony. I've never owned one of these products myself, largely because in-ear headphones always seem to work just fine for me in terms of blocking out external noise.