Oh blimey I have opened a can of worms. Well, it's open now!
One point I (think I) made in my original post that doesn't appear to have been addressed, is that I find simply wearing headphones actually IMPROVES the audibility of traffic?
What's that you say? Well, my headphones are 'open backed' i.e. they aren't a sealed design - they let air in and out which means they let sound in and out. As they have a foam covering I find this acts as quite an effective windshield for my ears, like the foam things you see on microphones, which cuts out the boomy rumble you get from the wind, thus making me able to hear what's going on in the outside world BETTER.
Then I stick a slight layer of music on top of that. So I don't think I'm cutting down on the useful information of the world around me but actually slightly improving it. I also don't find the music especially distracting - the only times I've done anything slightly stupid when cycling is because I've been daydreaming slightly, if anything the music helps me stay focused!
Each to their own and all that.
One point I (think I) made in my original post that doesn't appear to have been addressed, is that I find simply wearing headphones actually IMPROVES the audibility of traffic?
What's that you say? Well, my headphones are 'open backed' i.e. they aren't a sealed design - they let air in and out which means they let sound in and out. As they have a foam covering I find this acts as quite an effective windshield for my ears, like the foam things you see on microphones, which cuts out the boomy rumble you get from the wind, thus making me able to hear what's going on in the outside world BETTER.
Then I stick a slight layer of music on top of that. So I don't think I'm cutting down on the useful information of the world around me but actually slightly improving it. I also don't find the music especially distracting - the only times I've done anything slightly stupid when cycling is because I've been daydreaming slightly, if anything the music helps me stay focused!
Each to their own and all that.