Research suggests not, for cognitive performance. The 2022 Frontiers in Built Environment study and the 2024 Inter-Noise study by Hongisto — the researcher who developed ISO 23351-1 — both found that ANC headphones improve perceived acoustic comfort but do not improve actual cognitive task performance in office speech conditions. The irrelevant speech effect continues to operate through residual speech signal even with ANC active. High-end ANC headphones perform better than budget options, but the fundamental limitation is the mechanism, not the brand.