[QUOTE 1724032, member: 45"]It takes away some of your ability to hear what's around you. If you can live with that, then go for it. It's up to you. Just don't try to justify it by pretending that it makes no difference, or even actually improves your ability to hear....[/quote]
Here we go again. I'm not sure what User is using, but it clearly is blocking his ability to listen.
I've been here before and cannot be arsed to get into another row about it. User clearly has very strong views on the matter based on ... well, no evidence whatsoever other than his own anecdotes, and he certainly isn't interested in what anyone else has to say about it if it conflicts with his views and will answer it by cherry picking and belittling those he disagrees with.
I wear a set of open backed bluetooth headphones when cycling. They're a set of bluetooth open back headphones with music at a moderate volume. They do not make a tangible difference to how much I can hear any more than putting speakers on your bike some how. They reduce wind noise. These are my experiences and are not open to debate unless you believe I am lying (presumably I'm a mole working for the mp3 player industry).
They do not 'remove a vital sense'. They are not the audible equivalent of wearing a blindfold - unless you wear to wear huge sealed units blasting out 100dB+ white noise - I wouldn't recommend that regardless of whether you are riding a bike or not.
Some people are ignorant and easily distracted and may ride around with music blasting away music in a world of their own acting like plums. Removing the music from such people is unlikely to change that. If you feel that music distracts you too much that's fair enough. No one is telling you that you should wear headphones and listen to music when you are riding if you don't want to.
I don't see any point to those one ear or handlebar speaker devices.
[I have BSc in Sound Technology including modules in acoustics and psychoacoustics, and 8 years of experience as a professional in audio, mostly in post production. I kind of know a fair bit about sound and its effects]