Noise isolation refers to how well your headset can isolate the sound coming from your own gaming headset while simultaneously blocking out any external sound from outside. Apart from just being plain annoying, sound leaking into your headset can be a strategic disadvantage in tightly contested games, especially in shooters like Overwatch or Counter-Strike: Global Offensive that rely on directional audio prompts. At the very least, you will want to ensure your gaming headset has decent passive noise isolation, which is a measure of how well its overall physical design is effective at stopping external sound entering your ears. However, if only the strongest noise-blocking power will do, look for a headset with Active Noise Cancellation. This technology actively detects and analyzes the sound pattern of incoming noise and then generates a mirror anti-noise to cancel it out.