The protocol has nothing to say about headphones, and that is the useful starting point. Wells’ version of the exercise happens in a room: sounds are identified or introduced at different points around the person — at least three competing sounds in the room, two more nearby, and two in the far distance[1].

In a room, the spatial arrangement is simply true. Nothing has to reproduce it.

What headphones are actually for

They matter the moment the sounds come from a recording rather than from around you.

The layout is not decoration. The manual builds the exercise on sounds at different distances and locations[1], and some of those positions are locations with no sound at the time — what it calls potential sounds, which can be operationalised solely as locations in space[1]. An instruction like “focus on any sounds in the far distance” only means something if there is a far distance[1].

Play that through a single speaker and every sound — near, far, left, right — arrives from one point. The instructions still play; the thing they refer to is gone.

So: headphones are not a requirement of the technique. They are a requirement of delivering the technique from a recording, which is a documented way to deliver it[1].

Practical answers

Any stereo headphones or earbuds. Nothing in the protocol calls for particular hardware. What you need is left and right reproduced separately, which every pair does.

Noise cancelling: optional, and think about it. It helps if your surroundings are loud enough to mask the quiet sounds. But real room noise is not obviously an enemy here — Wells’ original version used the sounds that happened to be in the room, and the exercise is about steering attention among competing sounds rather than about a pristine signal[1].

Volume: high enough for the quiet ones. The arrangement includes distant and faint sounds[1], so a level set for the loudest sound can bury the ones that carry most of the task. Set it so the far sounds are audible without the near ones being uncomfortable — and no louder, since you are listening for twelve minutes.

One earbud: no. It collapses the arrangement more thoroughly than a speaker does.

If a sound seems missing

Check the volume and that both sides are working — and then consider that it may not be missing at all. Some of the positions in the arrangement may have no sound during a given practice, by design[1]. See what if you can’t hear one of the sounds?

The exception

If you practise ATT the original way — in an actual room, with real sounds at real distances, someone reading the script — you need no equipment at all[1]. Headphones are what recorded delivery needs in order to give you back the room.

Questions and answers

Do I need headphones to practise ATT?
Not for the technique itself — it was written for a room with real sounds at different distances. For a recorded session you effectively do, because a single speaker collapses the spatial arrangement the protocol specifies.
Can I use my phone speaker?
A phone speaker plays every sound from one point, so near, far, left and right all arrive from the same place. The layout the exercise depends on is lost.
Do they need to be expensive or noise-cancelling?
No. Ordinary stereo headphones or earbuds reproduce left, right, near and far. Nothing in the protocol calls for particular hardware.

References

  1. Wells, A. (2009). Metacognitive Therapy for Anxiety and Depression. Guilford Press. Chapter 4: Attention Training Techniques.

Published by the makers of Heed, an app for practicing ATT-style sessions. iPhone · Android. Heed is a self-practice tool inspired by ATT research — not therapy, and not a medical device.