Sound Leakage is also referred to as Sound Bleed. As a definition, it means that the music, or anything else that you are listening to on your headphones, can be also heard by people that are near you. It happens a lot, and it is a little bit annoying and unpleasant.
The two main reasons or factors that cause Sound Leaking are the drivers’ size of the headphones – if the headphones have a smaller driver then there will be less leaking sound, and the enclosure of the headphones – in case you own open-back headphones there is definitely more sound leaking.
In this guide, you will see how to stop headphones from leaking sound from your headphones, in both professional and non-professional headphones!
How To Stop Headphones From Leaking Sound: Guide
In the paragraphs that follow, I’ll give you some advice while also explaining how to reduce sound bleeding as much as possible.
We should learn more about this since sound leaking is a truly unpleasant experience because we can’t listen to our guilty pleasure music when it tends to leak outdoors — oh, the strange looks we’ll get from onlookers will be unavoidable.
Use Foam Ear tips or Foam Earpads
If your headphones leak the sound, the simplest thing to do is to change the ear tips or the earpads, of course depending on what types of headphones you use!
In-ear headphones mostly come with silicone tips and these ones leak the sound a lot, just replace them with foam ones and you will notice a very big difference.
As per on-ear headphones, you should definitely use foam earpads again, which fully help with the sound leaking as well as make the headphones more comfortable for you!
Use Ear Muffs
If someone doesn’t know what earmuffs are accessories that are designed to cover your ears for both hearing protection and warmth.
Using muffs will help with less sound leakage.
Considering the fact that some say to cover the earpads with your hands, a better thing to do is use earmuffs, especially during winter, it won’t look bad in any way!
Use Noise Isolation Headphones & Closed-Back Headphones: Sound Isolation
Noise Isolation is when the sound that comes from the outside world or from your headphones is fully isolated! It is considered a passive Noise Canceling technology that deals and has to do a lot with the design of the headphones! As mentioned above enclosure is an important part of sound leaking and using closed-back headphones will definitely be the best thing you should do! They are sealed around the back and allow the sound out only to reach your ear, meaning that their design is focused to keep the sound where it has to be, that is basically what we call passive noise isolation.
Still without ANC I think the sound leaks a bit if you go to close to the headphones, nothing serious though.
If you want to reduce sound leakage those type of headphones are the one that you should seek.
Open Back Headphones & Bone Conduction Headphones: Sound Leakage
When it comes to sound leakage those two headphones leak sound.
So it is a must for you to avoid them. Yes, they sure have their own benefits and uses, but headphone sound leakage is not what we are looking for right now.
Open back headphones are made to allow air to pass through them, which means that they don’t completely enclose our heads and ears. As a result, people in the near area will be able to easily hear what we are listening to, so in this situation, over ear or in ear headphones are the better option.
Since bone conduction headphones are not as loud as the ones discussed above, they do not leak sound as much, yet they do. The reason is that they function differently than regular headphones do.
Headphone sound leakage, as I mentioned can be really bothersome so avoiding those two types of headphones is key.
Turn Down the Volume
Here goes the most basic thing to do! The louder the music is, the more leakage is about to happen! In case you notice that your headphones are occurring sound leakage and you can’t do anything that is mentioned above, the thing that you should do is to turn the volume down! Besides not bothering the people around you, it can also help with the health of your ears!
Final Words
Eventually, if you don’t want to buy other headphones, and since there is no technology yet to deal with this thing, this guide covers the simplest and most important things that you should do.
We all know that sound quality is quite important in a pair of headphones so I think that the more sound leakage is there, the worse the quality becomes in an indirect manner.
So I would really advice to you to follow my guide and reduce sound leakage.
Further Reading
As in this article, I mentioned professional headphones, the first thing that comes to your mind when professionalism is mentioned, is a recording studio in which different musicians work at. Well, in a studio the first thing noticed, besides headphones, is the studio monitor that is being used. That’s why I would advise you to check out some amazing studio monitors for hip-hop if you are a fan or studio monitors for voice-over.
While we are here, I would also mention to you guys some of the greatest KRK speakers, because as you may know KRK is an amazing brand!
Find out if IPX4 is sufficient for showering if it is something that bothers you.
Additionally, a comparison of Tozo T10 and T12 is available; don’t miss it. There is also a contrast between Tozo T6 and T10.
Audio Engineer
You’ll never find anyone more passionate about audio as me. I love to share my knowledge with others and help people find the right equipment for them.
