Huh? What? Can you say that again? These words are booming through East hallways, classrooms, and commons. The culprit: noise-cancelling headphones.

In recent years, bluetooth headphone technology has undergone dramatic changes, including new features such as noise canceling. These headphones have seen an increase in popularity and have even become even more accessible with lower prices.

Senior Sophia Smith has used Beats Studio Pros for the past four years at home, school, and while at the gym.

“Lowkey, I love that I can’t hear anyone,” Smith said, “It helps me focus and not pay attention to outside distractions.”

Noise-cancelling functions by using microphones built into the headphones to capture low frequency noises. The headphones then create an inverse sound waves that accompanies your music to cancel out the surrounding ambient noises.

Senior Amber Chen has used her AirPod Pros for the past two years. She has experienced negative side effects of the noise-cancelling technology while using her headphones during school.

“I can’t hear my music unless I have noise-cancelling on,” Chen said, “but, sometimes it makes me nauseous.”

Noise-cancelling aims to completely eliminate surrounding ambient sounds and provide a calming and relaxing environment. While many students agree with this prospective others feel overstimulated without being able to hear the sounds surrounding them.

These headphones doesn’t just limit outside noise but, also hinders a users ability to hear emergency communications such as announcements or alarms.

Dean’s assistant Jim Caliendo has worked at East for 10 years and has seen first hand how headphones impact emergency awareness.

“Sometimes we have alarms that go off that kids don’t hear. Sometimes this could be an emergency and especially in a school setting this is a safety concern,” Caliendo said.

Students must learn to adapt to the obstruction to their hearing in order to remain safe. This can include the use of visual stimulators such as flashing lights or other student’s body language to help recognize these emergency procedures.

This technology has established itself as a long-term staple in modern society and will continue to advance. Whether for style, sound quality, or comfort, noise-canceling headphones provide students with the ability to listen to their own individual music preference throughout their school day.

Written by senior Hayden Mulacek. Edited by staff writers for Oswego East’s online news magazine The Howl.