A headphone set has a pair of headphone assemblies for engagement over the ears, each with a cushion and an active noise reduction circuit for reducing noise. A sound conditioning circuit stores various conditioning sounds for the user and an external sound source amplifier in the set is for connection to an external source of sound for supplying sound from the external source to the user. A power supply powers the set and switches are provided for selecting between modes of operation for supplying no sound to the user with no active noise reduction, for supplying no sound to the user with active noise reduction, for supplying the at least one conditioning sound to the user and for supplying sound from the external sound source to the user.