Listening to audio without obstructing ears

Question

I'm looking for a way to listen to my audiobooks while commuting without obstructing my ears.

One (rather expensive) option appears to be the Tunebug Shake (a Bluetooth turn-your-helmet-into-a-speaker gizmo); however, I'm hesitant to spend $120 on a device made by a company which does all their consumer promos with skater-style helmets and doesn't answer emails asking questions about sound quality with vented helmets.

Another option would be a water-bottle speaker (I commute with a Camelbak -- this is Austin, after all -- so either of these mounts are fine). Obvious downside is positioning -- my two water-bottle cages are below and behind my ears -- and several of the commercially available devices are specific to Apple hardware (and the thought of buying an iPod rather than using my existing Android-based phone smarts a little).

Suggestions? Experience?

Answer 1

I think this would be ideal for the purpose listed. Audio is vibrated to the ear with bone conductance. Not sure how good they are but they do fit the bill for rockin while riding.

http://www.neatoshop.com/product/Audio-Bone-1-0-Headphones-Black

Answer 2

I'm assuming you want those more to be able to hear traffic, less because how unobstructed ears look. I use a pair of cheap sony ear plugs. They're the kind of plugs that don't go all the way in the ear, but are only small round bulbs that sit at the front. Thus they still allow me to hear everything around me perfectly.

Answer 3

Almost any low quality ear plugs (so, unexpensive) will do the job. That is because cheap ones fail to insulate your ears from the external noise sources, and that's precisely what you do want to achieve.

Of course, you shouldn't set the device's volume to full throttle :-)

Answer 4

There are products like this one: http://www.iworld.co.uk/p/Slipstreamz_Cycling_Earwear_for_Headphones.htm?affiliatecode=gbase which claim to do what you want, and appears to be relatively cheap. They appear to take your existing ear phones and position them in such a way that you can hear your music, the shields cut out the wind noise but you can still hear your surroundings. Whether they work as advertised is another question, along with whether they'll make you look like a tit.

Weird earphone mounts http://img.iworld.co.uk/images/products/Slipstreamz%20Cycling%20Earwear%20for%20Headphones_A_P.jpg

There's a previous thread here: Is listening to music dangerous while cycling? which discusses whether listening to music whilst cycling is safe.

Answer 5

The Cy-fi speaker is an option. It is a wireless speaker that attaches to your stem or handlebars and wirelessly plays from an ipod/mp3 player. The upside is that it doesn't cover your ears at all. The downside is that you're playing loud enough other people hear.

Answer 6

I simply stream Pandora on my Blackberry and then put it on speaker-phone with the volume all the way up and the phone tucked inside a runner's waist pouch (similar to a fanny pack but very small and made of lycra and meant to hold a few bucks and a credit card. Available at most running shoe stores) strung around my neck. Very safe and the audio isn't bad at all.

Answer 7

I travel everyday across town, I like to hear the traffic when its busy and I like my music to sound good on quieter stretches of road, all the in ear bud things just sounded rubbish. I am now really happy using some igrado on ear head phones.

like these http://whathifi.com/Review/Grado-iGrado/

They are completely open so about as antisocial as you can get on public transport, they bleed sound its untrue, however its perfect on the bike since you can hear everything around you and the music sounds great.

Took some getting use to though, the band goes round the back and clamp the ears quite tightly. The cord is also one that hangs down infront instead of around the back of the neck which does cause some tangles sometimes.

As for the robustness, the build quality is great, but as they are open, they are quite exposed to the elements, so far so good but I have only been using them through the winter, snow, sleet but no driving rain.... well see how it goes next year, may also be a bit sweety in summer though.

Answer 8

I think by definition, if you can hear the your music/audio book/whatever, you are 'obstructing' your ears. Don't put yourself (and others!) at danger! When you are riding, you should be fully engaged in RIDING.

Answer 9

These look like an excellent solution: earbuds/headphones designed to be worn in one ear only, that combine a stereo input into just that one speaker.

Answer 10

I use the regular Blackberry ear phones with mike. They are $2 on Amazon these days, and they leak noise around them very well.

However, of course the issue is not entirely related to hearing the things around you, as well as paying attention to the things around you.

I personally prefer to listen to talk radio (I Heart Radio or Pandora) or podcats while riding. Or even talk on the phone. But it does distract somewhat while riding.

Answer 11

I've not tried them yet, but I read these ear buds allow ambient sounds in. Supposedly they fit in the outer ear without actually penetrating the ear canal.

http://www.marshallheadphones.com/product/minor

Answer 12

I realize this is a very old question by now but I'd like to share my experience.

I have a small bluetooth speaker that is about the size of a burrito. (About 8 inches by 2 inches | 20 cm x 6 cm).

I used to commute using a backpack and I managed to place the speaker inside the top of it, so the speaker was very close to my head. I used it at a volume such that if I needed to talk to/hear someone, the music was of little disturbance. In traffic, I could hear even the rolling noise of approaching cars, and in quiet streets it was actually quite enjoyable.

The downside, particularly for hearing speech is that any loud enough street sound would block the audio, making you miss some words. (Car horn, big engines, etc.) In my case, I used it for music and almost always I was hearing music I was already familiar with, so, missing a few beats was no issue at all. I was able to alleviate this somewhat by purposefully choosing more quiet streets, with the advantage of less car and pedestrian traffic, making the whole commute quite enjoyable.

This same speaker I also have mounted in my handlebar, which in this case sits almost right below my head, obviously at an arm's reach. This setup proved quite useful for a road ride in which I would spend quite some time far from other riders (due to performance differences). The same as before, the volume level was chosen such that I could hear even the less noisy cars approaching. In my case, this volume was not loud enough to be heard while away from the bike, but, for courtesy, If riding side by side or in a "peloton", I would turn the speaker off. You can test this by stepping a couple feet away, but consider that on the open street sound behaves very different from on your garage or underground parking.