My brother-in-law wants a pair of noise cancelling headphones for Christmas and my mother-in-law asked me for advice on that.  I've had a few pairs and I'm even asking for another pair (mine get A LOT of use, about 8 hours/day nearly every weekday, so I go through them quickly) so it makes sense she asks me about them, but I don't know a lot about them.

My brother-in-law doesn't want an expensive pair, only a cheap to mid-range pair.  That's really all the info I got.  So any suggestions?

I use Audio-Technica ATH-ANC1 QuietPoint headphones. They are kind of on the cheap side but they work pretty well

I just wanted to ask how effective they were at noise canceling?

Pretty good (or at least mine, audio-technica QuietPoint ATH-ANC7, are), peopel come into my office and start talking to me and I don't even notice unless I happen to see them walk in.

I want to save myself from a family member who likes to yell from another room. That way I can quickly put on my headphones and say I didn't hear them!

Yeah, though all the use on mine the power cord is starting to become frayed and the power switch requires some fiddling to get to work right.

Not knowing the kind of headphones you want (i.e. In Ear; Headset .etc) I would highly recommend the Razer Piranha headset reasonably priced, at $70, and are an excellent product. The speakers on it are second to only my surround sound system and noise pollution is kept to a minimum, moreover they are confortable for long periods of use too so no uncomfortable ear/headachs from daring to wear them for more than half an hour. Plus as a bonus you get a crystal clear and nicely sensitive microphone on them for multiplayer gaming or talking to people over the internet.

Also should it matter for you they look pretty nice too with their glowing ear and volume control piece.

http://store.razerzone.com/store/razerusa/en_US/pd/productID.169419100/parentCategoryID.35096300/categoryId.35209700

My sales pitch ends here :|

Um ... don't wear them while babysitting or working security.

Are this headphone really efective? I use earplugs everyday but I can always hear the neighbor's dog growling every morning, I hate that son of a bitch.