Originally Posted by
Sy Reene
Sound is sound isn't it? Airpods don't really block anything.. If I put a pair in my ears with nothing playing, I can perfectly hear anyone around me talking. OTOH, I can turn up some floorstanding speakers which aren't in my ear canal, and the noise makes it difficult to carry on or hear a conversation.
This.
This is the key. It's less about what you put in your ear* and more about how loud you are cranking the volume up to the point that it's affecting your situational awareness.
* - One notable exception are those earplug-style IEMs that actually block outside sound (unless they have an ambient sound mode to let you hear outside sound).