If you're working in a very loud environment, you need ear protection.
Active noice cancellation doesn't really block out sound. It simply masks it with a counter-wave that cancels it out as far as your ears are concerned... The problem is that it doesn't actually reduct the risk to your hearing from the loud sounds in the environment, at least not the type of noise cancellation used in consumer products like AirPods. Specialized electronic noise cancelling headsets are available, but they are usually significantly more expensive and are targeted at people who work in loud environments like construction or manufacturing or who participate in activities like shooting.
If the environment itself isn't loud enough to cause problems, some people have an issue with the noice cancellation itself, because of the way it works. Try turning off the noice cancellation and see if it helps.
Check the noise level of your environment if you can.
Check the headphone audio levels in the health app on your phone. If you're consistently at or near 80db, you need to scale it back. That can result in permanent serious hearing loss.
