A Boon For High-Rises, Noise-Canceling Windows Becoming Reality

Back in 2017, I wrote about how outside noise is generated and how it intrudes into homes. At the time, researchers thought there was little chance of utilizing noise-canceling technologies found in headphones on a home-scale.

That’s changed.

Canceling Noise From Outside

Last week, a story in Scientific Reports showcased researchers in Singapore doing just that. The problem had been that whole room or whole house noise cancelation had too many sound variables to be effective. The Singhalese scientists figured that it wasn’t the room that needed canceling, but the windows – essentially treating windows as the ears in the headphone equation.  

They surmised that most of the unwanted noise entering homes was coming from outside, not inside. Singapore, being a dense urban environment is plenty noisy. Couple that noise with a society that values open windows more than air conditioning. In their case, the way to reduce noise by closing a window also decreased ventilation (the choice of heat or noise). 

They came up with a matrix of interconnected speakers that sat in the window opening. Yes, speakers. Noise cancelation technologies analyze sound coming at them and use speakers to generate opposing sound waves that deaden sound. They’ve so far reduced certain, higher-pitched, noises by 10-dB (decibels) – their goal being traffic noise reduction. The problem with deadening lower-pitched noise, like human voices, is that it required larger speakers that become unattractive. The team calls their invention an Anti-Noise Control Window (scientists aren’t marketers).

For those who have used noise-canceling headphones, when the window is activated you “hear” the same pop-reduction in noise.

What was thought improbable just three years ago, shows that improvements in technology will quickly make this technology better, solving its early limitations. So you might think it’s too ugly to use today, it will get better as it gets smaller.

While I think in climates with better window use are the target market (so not really Texas), I do see a use for these noise-cancelling webs in Texas. In order to keep pigeons off my Athena balcony, I attached a floor-to-ceiling web. Imagine using a noise-cancelling web in outdoor spaces hear busy roadways to make outdoor spaces more usable?

Any number of highway-hugging high-rises have virtually unusable balconies because of the cacophony of noise. Imagine, once the technology gets a little better and more commercialized, a noise-cancelling web drawn across balconies – audible outdoor conversations, more peaceful morning coffee, the possibilities are endless for better usage of patio space.

The same is true for other residential types near busy roadways. Draw a web-like curtain across an enclosed patio for more enjoyable entertaining.

Over time, the researchers hope that the web becomes unneeded as the noise-canceling speakers would be integrated into the frame of the window. At that point, the technology would be invisible. But there’s considerable work to make that happen.

In the meantime, the -10dB drop in sound allows users to get the noise benefit of closing their windows without having to close the physical window.

And as we’ve been cooped up for months, any technology that helps make the most enjoyable use of every square inch of our homes, is worth keeping track of.