Noise reducing headphones - against voices

I read that noise reducing headphones are generally effective against background aircraft noise - but how about cutting out the sounds of other people's conversations? I don't want to listen to music but I do want to cut dwon the sounds of conversations around me - especially when having to sit near the bar! Has anyone any experience of using noice recuing headphones to cut out voice noise?
Alan T.

[Decker]

Well they MUFFLE but they're not really designed to kill voices. For the best results I use earplugs under QC2. I'm sure there are people more qualified than I on the board to explain how higher frequencies (speech) are more directional and thus if blocked from the ear canal are stopped whereas lower frequencies (rumble) need to be killed before they hit the surrounding area and set up sympathetic vibrations in your skull...

I wonder if people sitting next to QC2s ever get any cancellation overspill... hmmmm

Hi,

Well I must say the noise reducing phones in UC are pretty dire. In addition, I have tried both Bose and Sony "nc-1x?", and the Sony are fantastic. They run off a single AAA and are of the earbud type, which helps to remove most of the noise even before the electronics cut on.

2 cents worth [8D]

TS

[mitchja]

I bought the seperate iPod rubber type in-ear head phones for my iPod and they actually work extremely well at noise reducing (even though they are not designed to do it) They are also a lot more comfortable than the standard in-ear head phones the iPod comes with.

Regards