A noise cancelling headset comprising: first and second earpieces, each earpiece comprising a respective feedback microphone (104L, 104R), a respective feed-forward microphone (110L, 110R), and a respective output driver; a first feedback filter receiving an input from at least the first feedback microphone and producing a first filtered feedback signal; a first feed-forward filter receiving an input from at least the first feed-forward microphone and producing a first filtered feed-forward signal; a first summer combining the first filtered feedback signal and the first filtered feed-forward signal and producing a first output signal; an output interface providing the first output signal as an output from the headset; the noise cancelling headset being characterized in further comprising: a second summer combining the first and second feedback microphone inputs and providing a summed feedback microphone signal to a comparator; a third summer combining the first and second feed-forward microphone inputs and providing a summed feed-forward microphone signal to the comparator; an output of the comparator controlling operation of the first feedback filter and the first feed-forward filter based on a comparison of the summed feedback microphone signal with the summed feed-forward microphone signal; wherein the output of the comparator deactivates the first feedback filter when the comparison indicates that the summed feedback microphone signal has less signal content than the summed feed-forward microphone signal above 500 Hz, or wherein the output of the comparator deactivates the first feed-forward filter when the comparison indicates that the summed feedback microphone signal has more signal content than the summed feed-forward microphone signal between 150 Hz and 500 Hz. first and second earpieces, each earpiece comprising a respective feedback microphone (104L, 104R), a respective feed-forward microphone (110L, 110R), and a respective output driver; a first feedback filter receiving an input from at least the first feedback microphone and producing a first filtered feedback signal; a first feed-forward filter receiving an input from at least the first feed-forward microphone and producing a first filtered feed-forward signal; a first summer combining the first filtered feedback signal and the first filtered feed-forward signal and producing a first output signal; an output interface providing the first output signal as an output from the headset; the noise cancelling headset being characterized in further comprising: a second summer combining the first and second feedback microphone inputs and providing a summed feedback microphone signal to a comparator; a third summer combining the first and second feed-forward microphone inputs and providing a summed feed-forward microphone signal to the comparator; an output of the comparator controlling operation of the first feedback filter and the first feed-forward filter based on a comparison of the summed feedback microphone signal with the summed feed-forward microphone signal; wherein the output of the comparator deactivates the first feedback filter when the comparison indicates that the summed feedback microphone signal has less signal content than the summed feed-forward microphone signal above 500 Hz, or wherein the output of the comparator deactivates the first feed-forward filter when the comparison indicates that the summed feedback microphone signal has more signal content than the summed feed-forward microphone signal between 150 Hz and 500 Hz. a second summer combining the first and second feedback microphone inputs and providing a summed feedback microphone signal to a comparator; a third summer combining the first and second feed-forward microphone inputs and providing a summed feed-forward microphone signal to the comparator; an output of the comparator controlling operation of the first feedback filter and the first feed-forward filter based on a comparison of the summed feedback microphone signal with the summed feed-forward microphone signal; wherein the output of the comparator deactivates the first feedback filter when the comparison indicates that the summed feedback microphone signal has less signal content than the summed feed-forward microphone signal above 500 Hz, or wherein the output of the comparator deactivates the first feed-forward filter when the comparison indicates that the summed feedback microphone signal has more signal content than the summed feed-forward microphone signal between 150 Hz and 500 Hz.