The difference being that someone who's plugged in or otherwise distracted are often completely oblivious of their surroundings. Theres at least a half dozen incidents of pedestrian vs LRT here in calgary every year and it doesn't surprize me anymore when its suspected they couldn't hear the train, I guess they find mp3 players or phones and earbuds etc and check the volume settings. The rare instances when I wear buds, I keep my music low enough that I can hear those trains from 3 blocks away while some of those idiots remained completely oblivious of the blaring horn and rumble of the C-train right on top of them.
A legally deaf person is usually paying attention to their surroundings, sometimes profoundly aware of what missing a cue could cause.

or Earache My Eye?

I wore both ear buds a few times while on an empty SGRT headed down to the coast and while it was nice to have some music to hammer along to, it really threw off my own awareness. also, i hate how the chords get all tangled up. Really throws off my focus.

when I hear "on your left" thats cue for dialing up another 100W so the guy doesn't pass.

Am I the only one in this?

I sometimes wear headphones when I'm on a solo ride, but not loud enough not to hear traffic/other peeps. Sometimes I keep only one earbud in.

Sometimes I'm on a ride where I have my music turned off but have my earbuds in...Then I get people telling me to take them out cuz I'm on a group ride...I tell them the music isn't on and I can hear just fine cuz I'm not 65 years old but then they ask me again in a nicer tone, "It's not nice to listen to your headphones while riding".

I sometimes want to tell them that they're the ones with the hearing problem and should buy a set of hearing aids but I just smile, nod, and take my earbuds out...easier for everyone :p

The question is what kind of music do you guys listen to? I prefer David Guetta.

No, you're supposed to latch on and let them pull for 10 miles and THEN blow past them when they're tired. Make sure you give them The Look. No point wearing yourself out giving them a free pull!

As for ear buds, I wore them on a couple of rides this week to distract myself from the monotony of the river trails and it worked out pretty nicely. I wasn't playing anything terribly loud and I could still hear sounds around me but it helped dull the wind noise a bit. Did I mention the monotony? The only bikes I can usually hear are those squeaky hybrids and I don't normally have to worry about being passed by them. 99% of everybody else doesn't say jack when they go by anyway, so who cares. Those Filipino biker gangs make a ton of noise on the river trail, they don't need to say anything. :D