Noise-cancelling headphones have rapidly become the new paradigm of personal audio playback, allowing those that are able and willing to invest to retreat into controlled private soundscapes, free from any ambient noise that surrounds them.
Who truly has access to this technology, and is this individualistic solution to managing the daily noisy environments we encounter the best approach? What do we lose by silencing sounds that are classified as 'noise' by this technology?

Discarded Sound by EMAP artists Leon van Oldenborgh and Róbert Rampáček is an interactive installation that uses the technology of active noise-cancelling in a playful way to reframe the way this technology is routinely used by users. It focusses on the recording of discarded sound via custom altered headphones, meaning the sound that the headphones actively cancel and keep away from the user. By putting the visitor in a game where the only way to win is to listen and analyse this sound on a detailed level, Leon and Robert connect them through this sound to different perspectives on- and mechanics behind this technology ranging from the individual user to grander approaches of sound in the private and public environments we inhabit.