Sensitivity to noise cancellation, also known as "eardrum suck"

Xu J, Nielsen O. Sensitivity to noise cancellation, also known as "eardrum suck". In: 2025 AES International Conference on Headphone Technology. Audio Engineering Society; 2025. Paper 20. Available from: https://aes.org/publications/elibrary-page/?id=22946

@inproceedings{Xu2025_22946,
  author = {Xu, Janet and Nielsen, Ole},
  title = {{Sensitivity to noise cancellation, also known as "eardrum suck"}},
  booktitle = {2025 AES International Conference on Headphone Technology},
  note = {Paper 20},
  year = {2025},
  month = aug,
  publisher = {Audio Engineering Society},
  url = {https://aes.org/publications/elibrary-page/?id=22946}
}

TY  - CPAPER
TI  - Sensitivity to noise cancellation, also known as "eardrum suck"
AU  - Xu, Janet
AU  - Nielsen, Ole
T2  - 2025 AES International Conference on Headphone Technology
M1  - Paper 20
PY  - 2025
DA  - 2025/08/18
UR  - https://aes.org/publications/elibrary-page/?id=22946
PB  - Audio Engineering Society
LA  - en
AB  - There are a significant number of people who experience an adverse sensitivity to active noise cancellation technology, also known as "eardrum suck." "Eardrum suck" describes the most common symptoma feeling of "pressure" in the ear, as if in an ascending or descending airplane. Despite being reported by many noise-cancelling users in product reviews and media, there is little found on this phenomenon in the scientific community. In this paper, we provide an initial assessment of the prevalence of this sensitivity, look at the onset time of the symptoms, note any associations with form factor, explore the range of symptoms felt beyond aural fullness noting their similarities to disorders of the middle ear, discuss common methods of relief and exacerbation, and consider conditions for designing an effective psychoacoustic test.
ER  -