Abstract: A noise-cancelling telephone handset comprises a housing defining an earpiece (2) and a mouthpiece (3) housing a first order pressure gradient microphone (m). The housing is provided with two pressure-sensing locations (h1 and h2) in the region of the mouthpiece (3), these locations being connected to the microphone (m) by ducts (5). The pressure-sensing locations (h1 and h2) are spaced apart by a predetermined distance which is sufficiently large to permit locally-generated speech signals to produce a pressure gradient between the pressure-sensing locations while sound signals from distant sources produce substantially equal pressures at the pressure-sensing locations, whereby, in use, the output from the mouthpiece is substantially entirely that resulting from the locally-generated speech signals.