Originally Posted by
patentcad
I won't use good in-ear phones on my bicycle. They seal out too much ambient sound. I NEED to hear the ambient sound on the road. The cheap headphones that come with iPods or $10 Radio Shack phones (better still) let me hear the music and the cars. That's why I consider it safe. I do hear the traffic with my iPod playing at moderate levels. I always hear the traffic.
So anyone that thinks you can't safely ride with an iPod is incorrect. But as always, none of them really do. And it is quite hazardous in my view if you ride with the volume too loud or earphones that seal off the outside world.
I do agree there can be too much of a good thing. But there's a happy balance between not hearing everything and not hearing anything. Even the best isolating phones only block out about 30db of sound, which means a 130db car horn will just sound at 100db in your ears, which is more than loud enough to hear. Basically, no matter what you wear, you won't be able to not hear traffic. It's just about how much traffic you want to hear.