Someone at work once explained the origin to me (and my employer has done work for more than one of the manufacturers of noise cancelling headphones). The cause, as identified in the article, is when expected low frequency sound components are missing.
The normal "real world" way you selectively lose low frequencies is when there is a pressure differential across the eardrum - this stretches it and prevents it vibrating in the same way, losing the lower frequencies first. So the brain associates that experience with low pressure and gives the right sensation.
The normal "real world" way you selectively lose low frequencies is when there is a pressure differential across the eardrum - this stretches it and prevents it vibrating in the same way, losing the lower frequencies first. So the brain associates that experience with low pressure and gives the right sensation.