Earphones - Transparency Mode

[IanH]

The latest earphones include a transparency mode which "allows you to hear the world around you". Has anybody used this facility on the road or at home?
My wife and I are both concerned that my more basic earphones are limiting our conversations and decreasing my safety on the road. I have a set of basic NHS hearing aids but the more sophisticated models, including bluetooth, etc, are currently outside my budget.

[ChrisP100]

I personally don't wear headphones whilst cycling, but I do know a few riders who swear by bone conducting headphones which allow for open ears.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/bone-conductio ... eadphones

[Jdsk]

My wife and I are both concerned that my more basic earphones are limiting our conversations and decreasing my safety on the road.

What's this for, please... music, 'phone calls, riding together, tandem?

Thanks

Jonathan

[Bsteel]

Another option from Sony that doesn't isolate the wearer from external sounds.
https://www.sony.com/et/electronics/tru ... ss/wf-l900

[IanH]

I use my headphones for music whilst cycling but, when not wearing headphones, I have occasionally missed incoming texts and phone calls, which I stop to process.
Most of my rides are solo, on country lanes, towpaths, etc.
I've never heard of bone conducting headphones! More research required?
I've had a motorcycle licence all my life and always follow "Look, Signal, Manoeuvre" as I don't trust my life to my hearing. A motorcycle helmet is (partly) designed to reduce noise!

[Jdsk]

Thanks

TechRadar: "The best bone conduction headphones 2022":
https://www.techradar.com/news/best-bon ... headphones

Jonathan

[simonineaston]

The latest earphones include a transparency mode

I recently tried Apple's Airpod pro earbuds, having noted with wry amusment that surely only Apple could summon the chutzpa to charge the super-gullable punter (ie in this instance, myself...) a couple of hundred bucks to stuff a piece of plastic in their lug 'oles just to allow the wearer to hear what they could hear without them...
However, to return to the perfectly reasonable question, which is to do with safety, my responce is that with or without 'transparency', my impression is that music does detract from my ability to hear my surroundings. When I first tried them, I was amazed to find out how much I rely on hearing to process the presence of traffic behind me. Any music - or speech, come to that - has a tendancy to mask the detail of the info I might otherwise hear quite readily. I have abandoned, reluctantly, the wearing of any sort of headphone while cycling.
As an aside, the Apple watch takes care of texts and calls perferctly well, while I'm on the move.

[Jdsk]

However, to return to the perfectly reasonable question, which is to do with safety, my responce is that with or without 'transparency', my impression is that music does detract from my ability to hear my surroundings. When I first tried them, I was amazed to find out how much I rely on hearing to process the presence of traffic behind me. Any music - or speech, come to that - has a tendancy to mask the detail of the info I might otherwise hear quite readily. I have abandoned, reluctantly, the wearing of any sort of headphone while cycling.

I wouldn't dream of listening to music or wearing any sort of headphones while riding an HPV on public roads.

Jonathan

[mjr]

I wouldn't dream of listening to music or wearing any sort of headphones while riding an HPV on public roads.

So you stuff moulded earplugs in whenever you pass an open-air music venue, or even a busker, right? Methinks you may have overgeneralised there!

[Jdsk]

However, to return to the perfectly reasonable question, which is to do with safety, my responce is that with or without 'transparency', my impression is that music does detract from my ability to hear my surroundings. When I first tried them, I was amazed to find out how much I rely on hearing to process the presence of traffic behind me. Any music - or speech, come to that - has a tendancy to mask the detail of the info I might otherwise hear quite readily. I have abandoned, reluctantly, the wearing of any sort of headphone while cycling.

I wouldn't dream of listening to music or wearing any sort of headphones while riding an HPV on public roads.

What do others do?

Thanks

Jonathan

[Bsteel]

I tried bone conduction headphones but was never sure that they were working as intended. It often sounded as if I was just listening to the audio leaking from around the pads.
Now I tend to use a single ear bud, but I only listen to speech not music.

[Psamathe]

However, to return to the perfectly reasonable question, which is to do with safety, my responce is that with or without 'transparency', my impression is that music does detract from my ability to hear my surroundings. When I first tried them, I was amazed to find out how much I rely on hearing to process the presence of traffic behind me. Any music - or speech, come to that - has a tendancy to mask the detail of the info I might otherwise hear quite readily. I have abandoned, reluctantly, the wearing of any sort of headphone while cycling.

I wouldn't dream of listening to music or wearing any sort of headphones while riding an HPV on public roads.

What do others do?

Thanks

Jonathan

I don't listen to music cycling but would love to and periodically check on bone conducting headphones but never seen any that look comfortable for me. Having never tried I am uncertain about the distraction and my current ear bud things do let a fair amount of ambient sound through. The Sony ones look very interesting.

Ian

[axel_knutt]

with or without 'transparency', my impression is that music does detract from my ability to hear my surroundings. When I first tried them, I was amazed to find out how much I rely on hearing to process the presence of traffic behind me. Any music - or speech, come to that - has a tendancy to mask the detail of the info I might otherwise hear quite readily. I have abandoned, reluctantly, the wearing of any sort of headphone while cycling.

Hearing clearly isn't just about level, it also depends on having an adequate signal to noise ratio. When there's no hazard the music is your signal and the traffic is the noise, but when a hazard approaches the traffic becomes the signal you want to hear and the music is now noise. The problem is that these relative levels don't change automatically when a bus is about to run you over.

For anyone thinking of using an earpiece in just one ear, see Contralateral Masking.

[Bsteel]

For anyone thinking of using an earpiece in just one ear, see Contralateral Masking.

That was an interesting read, but assuming that the levels of signal and noise aren't too dissimilar I wonder how much comes down to the RAS identifying and flagging up the hazard.

[IanH]

I've cycled with and without music for many years. The most scary situation I can recall is being overtaken at speed whilst going downhill - vehicles in this scenario approaching from behind tend to be very quiet and the wind noise in my ears drowns out all other sounds, including my occasional playlist.
Drivers assume you're aware of their presence and they zoom past, not realising they've just scared me to (metaphorical) death!