Originally Posted by
Stealthammer
Funny, the OP asks for recommendations for the best headphones to wear when riding and so many people just want to tell him not to wear them because its too dangerous, and noone even bothers to ask him where he is riding and what the road and traffic conditions are. For some reason most of the posters assume that he is riding in an urban setting with lots of traffic, I guess because he stated that he rode "a long stretch that has a lot of trucks that speed late at night", but if he is riding at night the trucks headlight will tell him that a truck is coming long before he would be able to hear it anyway.
The point is, it all depends on where you are riding and the road and traffic conditions as to whether it is dangerous or not. There is no "one size fits all" rule, its a matter of personal choice and personal responsibility, so I still say check out the Sennheiser CX 200 Street II ear buds.
I admit, I'm on a rant... but I will still disagree. There
is a one size fits all rule: if you are on a road with vehicles - 2000 lbs + of metal powered by engines that can mow you down - then I firmly believe
no one driving, riding a bike, etc. operating on
the road should be wearing earphones. If you are on a sidewalk or multi-use path, sure an errant drunk driver or psychopath can come careening onto it and kill you, but it's far less likely because there is usually some physical separation (curb, barrier, actual distance, etc.). On the road, a faint, painted line is far less comforting.
The dangers of isolating one of your key senses is not what you can see from in front, but what you cannot see constantly from behind or the side. Depending solely on sight is even worse at night: night vision drops off dramatically, but you can still hear in the dark. I'm not exactly a "risk free" kind of guy, but I don't believe in taking unwarranted risks.
The following abstract is from:
Transportation Research Part F: Traffic Psychology and Behaviour
Volume 14, Issue 6, November 2011, Pages 626–637
The effects of listening to music on cycling behaviour were evaluated. Twenty-five participants completed a track on a bicycle while listening to music with two standard earbuds, with one earbud, and with two in-earbuds. Conditions with high tempo music and loud volume were also included in the experiment, as were two mobile phone conditions, one in which participants operated the phone hand held and one handsfree condition.
Cycle speed was not affected by listening to music, but was reduced in the telephone conditions.
In general the response to auditory signals worsened when participants listened to music, in particular when listening with in-earbuds loud auditory stop signals were missed in 68% of the cases. However, when listening with only one standard earbud performance was not affected. In the conditions when participants listened to high volume and to high tempo music, the auditory stop signal was also heard in significantly fewer cases. Completing a task on the mobile phone, using both handheld and handsfree sets, resulted in increased response time to an auditory stop signal and also reduced overall auditory perception. Furthermore, handsfree operation only had minor advantages opposed to hand held operation, with only response time to an auditory stop signal resulting in faster performance. This is likely to be related to the fact that both hands could be used for braking.
It is concluded that listening to music worsens auditory perception, in particular if in-earbuds are used. Furthermore, both handheld and handsfree operation of mobile phones has a negative effect on perception, potentially forming a threat to cyclist traffic safety.
Even though one ear bud suggests that there is "no effect", I say that you're literally decreasing your own chances of cycling and staying alive. And the main point is that loud, auditory stop signals were missed in 68% of the cases with any nominal use case of earphones. So, maybe the one time you miss a signal is the one that you could avoided being hit by a screaming mass of metal.