Navigation on a cycle? Earphones or not to Earphone?

[Arjun at WINK]

Hi guys, 

In general, I find navigation to be my biggest gripe with a cycle. Given that a cycle is a lot more nimble as compared to a car, I find it easy to navigate through back roads and alleys in and around Bangalore. As such, I have been looking for a good pair of earphones where I could listen to directions Google Maps (and music) while also not compromising on road awareness. Through some research I found these bone conduction earphones on Amazon,

AfterShokz TREKZ Open-ear Bluetooth Headphones

Amazon doesn't specify if these ear phones are compatible with a cycle helmet but, there is an image of a cyclist wearing them.

I've looked at MAP holders, Eink displays and a couple of other options but nothing seems compact.

Your thoughts?

[suman paul]

If you are budgeting for around 11k then why not this :

https://www.amazon.in/Bose-SoundSport-Wireless-Headphones-Black/dp/B01L7PSJFO?tag=googinhydr18418-21

thank you & regards

suman

+ 91   9886300685

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[Arjun at WINK]

These are very cool. 

The issue is that when you wear closed earphones, the audio of the road is drowned out. I was interested in bone conduction as you can then still hear the road. Reviews of the product suggest, "The headset doesn't block your hearing. If you play music much louder than ambient sounds, then ambient sounds still get hard to hear, i.e. your situational awareness still suffers proportional to listening volume, but less so than for normal headphones. I still usually hear cars approaching from behind while cycling". Hence the interest.

[berkeleydb]

Personally, I have seen that listening to music at moderate volume on basic "earbud" style earphones, still lets plenty of traffic noise through, so I don't feel I am really missing out the audio sense of the traffic. But yes, there are a few times, when another cyclist, or two wheeler which is coasting, makes a near-pass, and it takes me by surprise. And ofcourse, the most "dangerous" in that category, are the volvo buses, which run fairly silent at times, and their horn "tone" too is so mismatched to their size, that they can surprise you with a sudden near-pass. At those times, one can argue that even having earbud style earphone in the ears (even if there is no music playing) might have blocked out some noise which one's ears would otherwise pick up. In that sense, headphones (which cover the ears), might actually block out less noise, that earbus style earphones.

So, based on my personal experience / audio sensory levels, I would say if you are looking for special type to earphones, first check if the audio level that you are using, is "too loud". Much more so, is the (intermittent) audio cues from your navigation device, seem to be so loud as to drown out the traffic noise. (Ofcourse, admittedly, for listening to music while riding, I am_not really concerned about catching every word/note; as long as I get the basic song sense in my head, that is good enough. For audio navigation cues, however, one would want to hear each word clearly, so the audio level would need to be considerably higher, than what might be ok for listening to music.)

Also, note that various rides/races, mandate that the rider have an earphone/earpiece, only in one ear; that too, the ear that is on the "slower traffic" side (that would be left side, for India), so that the other ear is clear to hear traffic. Ideally, that is what you should consider, IMO.

Aside -- I don't know about other countries, but there really needs to be a (global) standard re: what type of horn should be installed for various kinds of vehicles. No matter how infrequently one might be expected to use the horn, the horn *must* indicate the basic size/category of vehicle. The horn on volvo buses are ridiculous; it sounds as if some 50cc moped is approaching!!

-{db}.

[Prashanth Chengi]

Dhawal, regarding the horn, unlike in India, in most developed countries abroad, nobody will even use a horn, let alone a loud one! In India, I was used to seeing people (bikes, cars, even buses) just shooting through intersections, literally leaning on the horn, but one rarely gets to see that kind of behavior outside of the subcontinent. In Europe, I found some honking vehicles (and also bad driving, and bad parking!) in Paris! 

Regarding music, I feel that irrespective of the volume, listening to music does reduce one's situational awareness; when I biked listening to music, I'd often get into a hyper-focused state, where I'd be riding hard and enjoying the music, but situational awareness would simply drop off. I now don't listen to anything when I ride. I do use a product called windfree, which is specifically designed to cut down the whine from the wind, without losing the ability to hear other sounds.
http://www.windfree.se/

/Prashanth

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[berkeleydb]

PC -- Am aware that in developed countries, the horn is seldom used. But it is used; if you haven't heard it being used, maybe you need to give it more time, or try other cities. :D I was alluding to that aspect, when I said "however infrequently".

The horn is an audio cue, which does_not require any particular involvement from the "recepient"; and so, it is very important. IMO, thinking of it in terms of how frequently it is used, is wrong. A parachute in a passerger plane, is seldom used. But when it is time to use it, you would want it to be as easy to use as possible.

The horn does need to indicate the category of the vehicle, so that if you are in a tight spot on the road and have to take a split second decision, and you have someone sounding the horn, you can have a sense for what kind of vehicle is there in the direction of that sound (w/o having to look in that direction), and use that in your decision making. You might_not have the time / good fortune to have the luxury of that decision making; but if you do, it can make the difference between life-and-death.

Unfortunately, safety awareness / preparedness is a very ill-understood area, IMO even in the best of cases. As one indicator -- some of the "conclusions" that are drawn from air plane accidents, are very basic. But the reason why they are_not practicsed at the outset is that people are_not willing to acknowledge their importance. Only when an accident occurs that can be linked directly to some of the basic good / common-sense practices, do people accept those good practices. And then again, it's not because they really are imbibing the safety thought process; it's only because the new procedures require them to (which in-part is also to "cover their ass", incase a similar accident were to happen again.

Really... most folks (including supposed "experts") will not know safety measures, if they got hit on the head with them. Learning from accidents is good... but I don't think there ever has been a postmortem, which resulted in the subject coming back to life; so from the perspective of the subject, a postmortem is an academic exercise, IMO. The real experts are those who can see some of the accidents before they happen (or see things as they are going wrong, not after), and suggest what is needed to avoid them.

Earphones do cut out traffic noice to varying degrees; like i said, even if there is no music playing in the earphones. Question is what might be an acceptable trade off; that is something each one needs to decide for thmselves, while keeping the law in mind (which might simply say "no earphones", btw; in which case, this whole discussion is moot).

-{db}.

[berkeleydb]

Also, yes -- "going into a zone" while listening to music is a tricky bit. It can make you oblivious to the traffic situation around you. Unfortunately, it is also something that arguably can help you keep your mind alert, by preventing boredom. Unfortunately, AFAIK, as per the law, listening to music perse while driving / riding, is_not illegal (except perhaps at very loud volumes). I think the law only talks about use of earphones.

-{db}.

[berkeleydb]

Read earlier today that the MH370 search might be contracted out to a private firm. Since I had mentioned airline safety aspect in my earlier post, the MH370 case is really the big one; recommendation for tracking of commercial planes was accepted (I believe) after the MH370 case.

We needed a commercial plane to actually go missing, for such recommendations to be put into practice. Granted, there are various angles to such recommendations... but really, this did really take the ofcourse-we-care-about-safety cake, IMO.

-{db}.