Systems and methods for adaptive feed-forward noise cancellation. The system includes a plurality of reference microphones, an error microphone, a secondary path module, an adaptation controller, and a canceller filter. A finite impulse response (“FIR”) based plant model is converted to an infinite impulse response (“IIR”) based plant model using balanced model reduction. Due to the inherent instability of the adaptive IIR filter, the Schur-Cohn stability test is applied to the denominator coefficients of the IIR filter transfer function to determine the stability of the noise cancellation system. A secondary path of the noise cancellation system is identified in an on-line manner in the secondary path module. If the energy level of the communication signal (e.g., a music signal) is strong, secondary path identification is performed. The adaptation controller controls the updating of the IIR transfer function based on the stability determination and the secondary path. An anti-noise signal is then generated and added to the communication signal. The anti-noise signal is generated within approximately 60 or fewer micro-seconds.