I bought these to use during a recent hospital stay and didn't want to risk losing my good ones. They worked well and definitely reduced the noise to a manageable level which allowed me to sleep and rest a tad more. To be clear I was looking for Environmental Noice cancelling and was not concerned, nor did I try to test a phone call, so I have no experience with that component of noise cancelling. They don't really compete with the big dogs, but I would recommend for anyone looking for a decent pair of noise canceling earbuds at a fraction of the price.