Has anybody disabled Active Noise Control in their car?
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2001 S600 V12 Sold, 2011 Jaguar XFR Sold, 2017 S550 4-Matic, 2018 S63 AMG Sedan
Has anybody disabled Active Noise Control in their car?
I'd like to disable the active noise control in my car. Has anybody done this before, or seen it done?
I have 2 reasons. The main reason is because some recent studies say that constant use of noise cancelling headphones might cause your brain to lose the ability to discern sounds. Here's an article that talks bout it: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cgkjvr7x5x6o
I love music and travel fairly frequently, probably spent close to 100 hours in the air in 2024 and wore my noise cancelling headphones litrally all th time. Plus, sleep with them on when not home 100% of the time, and occasionally at home too over the last year at home. What I've noticed is that I can't distinguise voices or sounds. So when water is running while I'm washing my hands or dishes and the timer on the microwave beeps I can't hear it. And when my wife and daughter are talking at the same time I have a hard time tracking both. I can say with 100% certainty this just begain within the last 90 days. Then I stopped using noise cancelling, and continued using headphones at the same rate, including trip to Arizona, and now I'm doing better. Not 100%, but still better. The 2nd reason for disabling noise control is because I want to upgrade the speakers and add a "real" subwoofer someday. But I know it's a moot oint, which I discovered in my Genesis before. The ANC just cut off all the gains. I added and LC2i, and it helped restore the gains, but it was never as smooth as it should have been.
So has anybody disabled the noise control system, without causing any other problems. Or is it something that can be done through coding or head unit?
I have 2 reasons. The main reason is because some recent studies say that constant use of noise cancelling headphones might cause your brain to lose the ability to discern sounds. Here's an article that talks bout it: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cgkjvr7x5x6o
I love music and travel fairly frequently, probably spent close to 100 hours in the air in 2024 and wore my noise cancelling headphones litrally all th time. Plus, sleep with them on when not home 100% of the time, and occasionally at home too over the last year at home. What I've noticed is that I can't distinguise voices or sounds. So when water is running while I'm washing my hands or dishes and the timer on the microwave beeps I can't hear it. And when my wife and daughter are talking at the same time I have a hard time tracking both. I can say with 100% certainty this just begain within the last 90 days. Then I stopped using noise cancelling, and continued using headphones at the same rate, including trip to Arizona, and now I'm doing better. Not 100%, but still better. The 2nd reason for disabling noise control is because I want to upgrade the speakers and add a "real" subwoofer someday. But I know it's a moot oint, which I discovered in my Genesis before. The ANC just cut off all the gains. I added and LC2i, and it helped restore the gains, but it was never as smooth as it should have been.
So has anybody disabled the noise control system, without causing any other problems. Or is it something that can be done through coding or head unit?
Last edited by carlosinseattle; Mar 1, 2025 at 04:36 PM.
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I'd like to disable the active noise control in my car. Has anybody done this before, or seen it done?
I have 2 reasons. The main reason is because some recent studies say that constant use of noise cancelling headphones might cause your brain to lose the ability to discern sounds. Here's an article that talks bout it: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cgkjvr7x5x6o
I love music and travel fairly frequently, probably spent close to 100 hours in the air in 2024 and wore my noise cancelling headphones litrally all th time. Plus, sleep with them on when not home 100% of the time, and occasionally at home too over the last year at home. What I've noticed is that I can't distinguise voices or sounds. So when water is running while I'm washing my hands or dishes and the timer on the microwave beeps I can't hear it. And when my wife and daughter are talking at the same time I have a hard time tracking both. I can say with 100% certainty this just begain within the last 90 days. Then I stopped using noise cancelling, and continued using headphones at the same rate, including trip to Arizona, and now I'm doing better. Not 100%, but still better. The 2nd reason for disabling noise control is because I want to upgrade the speakers and add a "real" subwoofer someday. But I know it's a moot oint, which I discovered in my Genesis before. The ANC just cut off all the gains. I added and LC2i, and it helped restore the gains, but it was never as smooth as it should have been.
So has anybody disabled the noise control system, without causing any other problems. Or is it something that can be done through coding or head unit?
I have 2 reasons. The main reason is because some recent studies say that constant use of noise cancelling headphones might cause your brain to lose the ability to discern sounds. Here's an article that talks bout it: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cgkjvr7x5x6o
I love music and travel fairly frequently, probably spent close to 100 hours in the air in 2024 and wore my noise cancelling headphones litrally all th time. Plus, sleep with them on when not home 100% of the time, and occasionally at home too over the last year at home. What I've noticed is that I can't distinguise voices or sounds. So when water is running while I'm washing my hands or dishes and the timer on the microwave beeps I can't hear it. And when my wife and daughter are talking at the same time I have a hard time tracking both. I can say with 100% certainty this just begain within the last 90 days. Then I stopped using noise cancelling, and continued using headphones at the same rate, including trip to Arizona, and now I'm doing better. Not 100%, but still better. The 2nd reason for disabling noise control is because I want to upgrade the speakers and add a "real" subwoofer someday. But I know it's a moot oint, which I discovered in my Genesis before. The ANC just cut off all the gains. I added and LC2i, and it helped restore the gains, but it was never as smooth as it should have been.
So has anybody disabled the noise control system, without causing any other problems. Or is it something that can be done through coding or head unit?
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W222 does not have active noise cancelling. Does the W223? I have it on our Chrysler Pacifica and I can't tell anything.
I would not worry about the effects of this. Very different than noise cancelling headphones that put sound pressure right into your ears.
I totally believe that article. My ears feel weird after I have had noise cancelling headphones on. I only use them on planes, and will continue to but when I do use headphones elsewhere I just turn the noise cancelling off.
I would not worry about the effects of this. Very different than noise cancelling headphones that put sound pressure right into your ears.
I totally believe that article. My ears feel weird after I have had noise cancelling headphones on. I only use them on planes, and will continue to but when I do use headphones elsewhere I just turn the noise cancelling off.
Last edited by SW20S; Mar 2, 2025 at 10:24 AM.
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Thread Starter
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From: Pacific Northwest
2001 S600 V12 Sold, 2011 Jaguar XFR Sold, 2017 S550 4-Matic, 2018 S63 AMG Sedan
The W222 100% has ANC. Funny, I thought everybody knew that. It's standard on it:
https://classicparts.mbusa.com/oem-p...ule-2128703789
I'll find the link and post it later today.
https://classicparts.mbusa.com/oem-p...ule-2128703789
I'll find the link and post it later today.
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The W222 100% has ANC. Funny, I thought everybody knew that. It's standard on it:
https://classicparts.mbusa.com/oem-p...ule-2128703789
I'll find the link and post it later today.
https://classicparts.mbusa.com/oem-p...ule-2128703789
I'll find the link and post it later today.
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Posts: 222
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As someone who works in audio and suffers from hearing disorders from my late 20s (tinnitus, hyperacusis) this is something that concerns me greatly. ANC in general causes irritation, a feeling of pressure or "eardrum suck" among a lot of people. Also generally speaking, if something causes ear discomfort or pain that might be the only warning before damage. We just don't know enough about the auditory system as a whole.
If W222 does have ANC can you just pull the fuse? It's very possible too that it was never activated, or very mild to not cause irritation.
However, from the fitment list below it's all E-Class models which were known to have had ANC for road noise frequencies.
If W222 does have ANC can you just pull the fuse? It's very possible too that it was never activated, or very mild to not cause irritation.
However, from the fitment list below it's all E-Class models which were known to have had ANC for road noise frequencies.
MBWorld God!
Joined: Dec 2019
Posts: 32,222
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As someone who works in audio and suffers from hearing disorders from my late 20s (tinnitus, hyperacusis) this is something that concerns me greatly. ANC in general causes irritation, a feeling of pressure or "eardrum suck" among a lot of people. Also generally speaking, if something causes ear discomfort or pain that might be the only warning before damage. We just don't know enough about the auditory system as a whole.
If W222 does have ANC can you just pull the fuse? It's very possible too that it was never activated, or very mild to not cause irritation.
However, from the fitment list below it's all E-Class models which were known to have had ANC for road noise frequencies.
If W222 does have ANC can you just pull the fuse? It's very possible too that it was never activated, or very mild to not cause irritation.
However, from the fitment list below it's all E-Class models which were known to have had ANC for road noise frequencies.
MBWorld Fanatic!
Joined: Jun 2015
Posts: 9,053
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From: Maryland
2024 S580
The W222 100% has ANC. Funny, I thought everybody knew that. It's standard on it:
https://classicparts.mbusa.com/oem-p...ule-2128703789
I'll find the link and post it later today.
https://classicparts.mbusa.com/oem-p...ule-2128703789
I'll find the link and post it later today.
Although it appears that they do in fact have ANC, here is a video how to disable it:
Last edited by SW20S; Mar 2, 2025 at 02:46 PM.
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The lack of documentation on what should be a well-advertised feature is strange. No mention in the 2018 manual: https://www.mbusa.com/content/dam/mb...n_Operator.pdf
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From: Cincinnati
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I'd like to disable the active noise control in my car. Has anybody done this before, or seen it done?
I have 2 reasons. The main reason is because some recent studies say that constant use of noise cancelling headphones might cause your brain to lose the ability to discern sounds. Here's an article that talks bout it: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cgkjvr7x5x6o
I love music and travel fairly frequently, probably spent close to 100 hours in the air in 2024 and wore my noise cancelling headphones litrally all th time. Plus, sleep with them on when not home 100% of the time, and occasionally at home too over the last year at home. What I've noticed is that I can't distinguise voices or sounds. So when water is running while I'm washing my hands or dishes and the timer on the microwave beeps I can't hear it. And when my wife and daughter are talking at the same time I have a hard time tracking both. I can say with 100% certainty this just begain within the last 90 days. Then I stopped using noise cancelling, and continued using headphones at the same rate, including trip to Arizona, and now I'm doing better. Not 100%, but still better. The 2nd reason for disabling noise control is because I want to upgrade the speakers and add a "real" subwoofer someday. But I know it's a moot oint, which I discovered in my Genesis before. The ANC just cut off all the gains. I added and LC2i, and it helped restore the gains, but it was never as smooth as it should have been.
So has anybody disabled the noise control system, without causing any other problems. Or is it something that can be done through coding or head unit?
I have 2 reasons. The main reason is because some recent studies say that constant use of noise cancelling headphones might cause your brain to lose the ability to discern sounds. Here's an article that talks bout it: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cgkjvr7x5x6o
I love music and travel fairly frequently, probably spent close to 100 hours in the air in 2024 and wore my noise cancelling headphones litrally all th time. Plus, sleep with them on when not home 100% of the time, and occasionally at home too over the last year at home. What I've noticed is that I can't distinguise voices or sounds. So when water is running while I'm washing my hands or dishes and the timer on the microwave beeps I can't hear it. And when my wife and daughter are talking at the same time I have a hard time tracking both. I can say with 100% certainty this just begain within the last 90 days. Then I stopped using noise cancelling, and continued using headphones at the same rate, including trip to Arizona, and now I'm doing better. Not 100%, but still better. The 2nd reason for disabling noise control is because I want to upgrade the speakers and add a "real" subwoofer someday. But I know it's a moot oint, which I discovered in my Genesis before. The ANC just cut off all the gains. I added and LC2i, and it helped restore the gains, but it was never as smooth as it should have been.
So has anybody disabled the noise control system, without causing any other problems. Or is it something that can be done through coding or head unit?
Kidding aside (though that may be the issue) as someone who has tinnitus I find the the noise canceling air pods tend to trigger it so this is of interest. I have read that you can't count on noise canceling devices to protect your hearing.
Last edited by MBNUT1; Mar 2, 2025 at 04:09 PM.
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The lack of documentation on what should be a well-advertised feature is strange. No mention in the 2018 manual: https://www.mbusa.com/content/dam/mb...n_Operator.pdf
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2014 S550
I think it became standard with the 2018 refresh. If you look at the VIN decoder list of equipment for any 2018 model you will see this listed "97B ENGINE NOISE REDUCTION VIA SPEAKER (EOC)". I think that means noise cancellation.
Last edited by schack; Mar 2, 2025 at 06:57 PM.
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The W222 was not fitted with ANC, the only limited use was cars with m176/177 that have option 97B. This is specifically noise canceling for the sound of the engine when operating in 4 cyl mode as this sounds like crap with any throttle demand. There is a specific speaker for this behind the rear seats.
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In the W222 it's called VNC, but it works just like noise cancelling and does in fasct cancel out unwanted noise in addition to attenuating the sound from the speakers. When I first posted this I thought it was understood. So how do I know?? I had a problem with one of the speaker in my car. In the process of troubleshooting it I disabled the sound system completely. I got a couple warnings on the dash that I can't remember. But more importantly, when I drove to the store my car sounded a lot louder, road noise, wind noise etc. Not like a crappy car, but definitely more than normal. I suspected the function before I bought my car because my 2014 Hyundai Equus and 2016 G90 both had that feature. I found out when I went to have the audio system upgraded. Even with an Audio Control LC2i installed, which helped add back in some of the sound that the system reduced, it never sound as good as it should. I still have a few thousand dollars worth of car audio equipment sitting in my garage for future use. It would be a waste of time and money to put it in my S63.
As far as unplugging the module or fuse; I'm afraid the error messages that I saw before would come back. Hoping for a more elegant solution.
As far as unplugging the module or fuse; I'm afraid the error messages that I saw before would come back. Hoping for a more elegant solution.
MBWorld God!
Joined: Dec 2019
Posts: 32,222
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In the W222 it's called VNC, but it works just like noise cancelling and does in fasct cancel out unwanted noise in addition to attenuating the sound from the speakers. When I first posted this I thought it was understood. So how do I know?? I had a problem with one of the speaker in my car. In the process of troubleshooting it I disabled the sound system completely. I got a couple warnings on the dash that I can't remember. But more importantly, when I drove to the store my car sounded a lot louder, road noise, wind noise etc. Not like a crappy car, but definitely more than normal. I suspected the function before I bought my car because my 2014 Hyundai Equus and 2016 G90 both had that feature. I found out when I went to have the audio system upgraded. Even with an Audio Control LC2i installed, which helped add back in some of the sound that the system reduced, it never sound as good as it should. I still have a few thousand dollars worth of car audio equipment sitting in my garage for future use. It would be a waste of time and money to put it in my S63.
As far as unplugging the module or fuse; I'm afraid the error messages that I saw before would come back. Hoping for a more elegant solution.
As far as unplugging the module or fuse; I'm afraid the error messages that I saw before would come back. Hoping for a more elegant solution.
MBWorld God!
Joined: Dec 2019
Posts: 32,222
Likes: 6,278
The W222 was not fitted with ANC, the only limited use was cars with m176/177 that have option 97B. This is specifically noise canceling for the sound of the engine when operating in 4 cyl mode as this sounds like crap with any throttle demand. There is a specific speaker for this behind the rear seats.
