Lauren Dragan

4 weeks ago | nytimes.com | Lauren Dragan

No single over-the-counter hearing device is perfect for everyone, so we offer different recommendations for different priorities and budgets.

1 month ago | nytimes.com | Lauren Dragan

When Goodnight Moon author Margaret Wise Brown wrote “goodnight stars, goodnight air, goodnight noises everywhere,” it’s unlikely the noises she imagined were jackhammers, sirens, or a snoring partner. If you, like me, are a light sleeper in a busy world, an uninterrupted night of rest can feel like a fairy tale. Sleep headphones can help. They’re designed for people who want to block out sounds, fall asleep to music, or mask issues such as tinnitus.

1 month ago | nytimes.com | Lauren Dragan

I test hundreds of headphones every year, and not every pair arrives with a sense of anticipation. But JBL’s Tour One M3 — the updated version of our top pick for the best Bluetooth wireless headphones — was one pair that warranted immediate unboxing.

2 months ago | nytimes.com | Lauren Dragan

My grandmother Elinor’s wisdom was earned—she lived through both World Wars and earned a degree in fashion design. Elbows! To a young person in the “not a girl, not yet a woman” phase of life, the idea that my elbows might need tending to had not even occurred to me. I examined the pointy bends of my arms and, to my horror, discovered that my elbows were, in fact, dry. At this time, for me, any physical flaw was a possible point of weakness upon which the vultures of mean girls would feed.

Feb 27, 2025 | nytimes.com | Lauren Dragan

“Noise-canceling headphones may be linked to brain condition.” That headline, and variations of it, dominated my inbox last week, due to a BBC report stating that British audiologists are concerned that noise-cancelling headphones could be associated with a condition called auditory processing disorder. Within a few days, more articles repeated the claim. As Wirecutter’s headphone reviewer, I read the article with great interest—and I got a lot of emails from curious and concerned readers.