On this episode of Reasonably Sound, Mike Rugnetta considers noise-canceling headphones, whether you use them for cross-country flights or to mute your Simply Red-listening neighbor. He tells you how they work (and don’t work), why the notion of neutral technology is a bunch of hooey (sorry, Chomsky), and that silence is a lie.

ALSO MENTIONED:

• Weird warbles
• Rare factions
• Oculus Rift
• Weirdly racist film stock
• Harvard’s anechoic chamber
• John Cage’s 4’33”
• Wearing noise-canceling headphones while listening to John Cage’s 4’33”