HONG KONG – Today, Nokia launches the Essence Bluetooth Stereo Headset, a brand new accessory designed to let you make the most out of the entertainment potential of your Nokia smartphone or any other Bluetooth enabled music player. This is our highest performance in-ear headset to date, featuring stunning 99.8 per cent noise cancellation in the lightest, smallest package available.

The Nokia Essence stands out from other headsets through its Active Noise Cancellation technology, eliminating 99.8 per cent of background noise. This makes it ideal for any music lover, but especially for plane and train journeys or when you really need to block out any distractions while you’re working.

The headset works with any Bluetooth phone, but is especially useful with Nokia’s latest smartphones since it includes Near-Field Communication (NFC) to pair with a tap of your phone on the controller. Of course, the Nokia Essence also includes call handling and offers buttons for both that and for moving through your music.

How does noise-reduction work?

If you listen to music using regular earphones and there’s noise around, then you’ll probably have to turn up the volume very loud. Even then, you’ll probably still be able to hear outside noises and might even be doing harm to your ears. Noise-cancelling headsets contain microphones that listen to the sounds around you, then create an opposite sound which is blended in with your music. This “reverse-noise” is intended to cancel out the noise around you. The extent to which this works depends on the quality of the microphones, the responsiveness of the electronics and the quality of the algorithms that create the noise-cancelling effect. With the Nokia Essence each of these ingredients are the best we’ve ever produced.