At the risk of sounding condescending I have to wonder if you have prior experience using headphones with active noise-cancelling technology? In my experience, the ANC feature mainly cancels out the persistent noises in my surroundings (i.e. vehicle motors, mild traffic, etc.) and does not mask human speech to a significant degree. Also, the switch to disable ANC is usually readily accessible in all designs i've used thus far. That being said I DO have an odd suggestion for you to try: Foam Ear Plugs. Not joking haha. I spent 7 years as a machine operator in a dangerously noisy factory. Needless to say, ear protection was mandatory. The amazing thing is that the foam earplugs could nearly silence the heavy machinery while allowing other frequencies like human speech to pass-through quite readily. So, before dropping hundreds on a new pair of cans with fancy ANC tech maybe try some earplugs in conjunction with some cans you perhaps have at hand. If you can handle the sensation of foam earplugs I think it can be an economical alternative to pricey ANC cans. Good Luck!
