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As I’m heading out the door, I always make sure I have my keys, phone, sunglasses, and ear protection. City life is loud, and I like to have my active noise-canceling headphones for the train, as well as some more noise-filtering earplugs, which are more discreet in restaurants. I want to be able to control my sound environment—and it’s never been easier.

I’m not alone either. Society is having a reckoning about noise. Hearing is a sense we can’t physically turn off, and until recently, unless we were willing to cosplay as a construction worker by wearing ear defenders, we just had to suck it up. But as active noise-canceling technology goes from good to great, it

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