"Noise canceling headphones for audio books?"

As far as the effectiveness of noise canceling, nothing really beats the Bose QuietComfort 3 ($350) or the QuietComfort 2 ($300).

But they are very pricy.

The compromise is the models provided by JVC, especially the JVC HA-NC250. While much cheaper at $120 in Amazon, it comes very close to the Bose models in both noise canceling and sound quality. Read this CNET review: http://reviews.cnet.com/headphones/jvc-ha-nc250-noise/4505-7877_7-32515732.html?tag=txt

There are quite some cheaper models in the market, but too many of them are not worth the money. The really effective ones from Sony, Sennheiser and even Creative are also expensive.

By the way, you mentioned headphones only, but you might be interested in a nice pair of earbuds, some of them are very effective in "noise-isolating". My recommedation as a value pick is the Etymotic E6i.

I bought a pair for my wife’s teenage cousin as birthday gift, and she uses it while riding the New York City subway. Imagine the effectiveness of that.

But not everybody is comfortable with earbuds - they take some time to get used to.

I have noise canceling earbuds w an adapter to block out the outside noise like on a airplane this adapter turns on & off I received it from www.worldstart.com sku #4060 on the left side of homepage click i-pod accessories scroll down to noise canceling earbuds the earbuds are very comfy also!!($18.97)

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Includes

• Noise canceling stereo earbuds
• Carrying pouch