A headphone listening apparatus comprising: an audio listening device adapted to be coupled to headphones, the audio listening device being programmed to: receive an incoming ambient audio signal indicative of an external ambient sound; store a plurality of desired audio triggers; compare the external ambient sound to the plurality of desired audio triggers; and transmit a notification signal to said headphones in response to the external ambient sound being generally similar to a first desired audio trigger of the plurality of desired audio triggers, characterized in that the audio listening device is further programmed to: receive an indication from a user interface to activate a simple tone detection mode; upon activation of the simple tone detection mode, compare a first frequency on the incoming audio signal to a baseline frequency corresponding to a frequency of a simple tone among simple tones of the first desired audio trigger; and execute a first processor intensive mechanism in response to the first frequency being generally similar to the baseline frequency to detect the simple tones of the first desired audio trigger, wherein the first processor intensive mechanism is a Goertzel algorithm. an audio listening device adapted to be coupled to headphones, the audio listening device being programmed to: receive an incoming ambient audio signal indicative of an external ambient sound; store a plurality of desired audio triggers; compare the external ambient sound to the plurality of desired audio triggers; and transmit a notification signal to said headphones in response to the external ambient sound being generally similar to a first desired audio trigger of the plurality of desired audio triggers, receive an incoming ambient audio signal indicative of an external ambient sound; store a plurality of desired audio triggers; compare the external ambient sound to the plurality of desired audio triggers; and transmit a notification signal to said headphones in response to the external ambient sound being generally similar to a first desired audio trigger of the plurality of desired audio triggers, characterized in that the audio listening device is further programmed to: receive an indication from a user interface to activate a simple tone detection mode; upon activation of the simple tone detection mode, compare a first frequency on the incoming audio signal to a baseline frequency corresponding to a frequency of a simple tone among simple tones of the first desired audio trigger; and execute a first processor intensive mechanism in response to the first frequency being generally similar to the baseline frequency to detect the simple tones of the first desired audio trigger, wherein the first processor intensive mechanism is a Goertzel algorithm. receive an indication from a user interface to activate a simple tone detection mode; upon activation of the simple tone detection mode, compare a first frequency on the incoming audio signal to a baseline frequency corresponding to a frequency of a simple tone among simple tones of the first desired audio trigger; and execute a first processor intensive mechanism in response to the first frequency being generally similar to the baseline frequency to detect the simple tones of the first desired audio trigger, wherein the first processor intensive mechanism is a Goertzel algorithm.