Noise canceling headphones almost killed me, twice

(Image credit: Shutterstock)

Look, I know how loud the outside world can be. I live in it, just the same as you. The noise of car tires, engines, and other people — they’re all there to give me a headache. Disturb my peace. How do I alleviate my distaste of busy, loud places?

I wear some of the best noise-canceling headphones.

Or at least I did. Until last week, after my second near-death experience related to ANC headphones. One saw me wearing a pair, and the other was down to someone else wearing some ANC earbuds.

Now, I’m terrified to wear them while I’m outside the house, and it all comes down to spatial and situational awareness and how ANC can affect it in a negative way.

Near death — a tale in two parts

Walking workout 3 women — (Image credit: Shutterstock)

At lunchtime, I like to go for walks. When you work at home, finding time to exercise when you don’t have to worry about a commute can be tricky, but it’s still important to get your legs moving. So I walk.

Every day, I cross the road in the same place outside my house. At lunchtime, it’s generally nice and quiet, and I don’t see all that many cars pass by. I always look both ways and cross both ways just to be safe. So that I don’t get hit by a car.

It’s something that’s become second nature, until one day a couple of weeks ago. There is a corner near my house, and I can only see the cars coming around the corner once they’ve made it to my section of the road.

Usually, cars are going slow enough that it’s not a problem, and I’ve plenty of time before they pass near me.

The steepest hill in Seattle, East Roy Street. — (Image credit: Future)

There is a hitch, though. When I’m wearing my ANC earbuds, I can’t hear anything coming around the corner — if they’re approaching too quick, I wouldn’t hear them like if I wasn’t wearing my buds. Previously, I’ve never had to worry — until a couple of weeks ago.

I was going out for my lunchtime walk, the sun high in the sky. I popped my earbuds into my ears, grabbed my coat, and left the house. As usual, I stood at the side of the road, looked both ways, and started to cross the road when I thought it would be safe. Unfortunately for me, it was not.

As I reached the middle of the road, a speeding car plummeted around the corner, and, with an ear-splitting screech, slid to a stop where I was just walking.

I turned around to find the driver shouting expletives at me through the window, and throwing all kinds of shapes and symbols with his hands that I can only assume meant “what the **** **** **** did you think you where doing, you ***** ****.”

An angry driver — (Image credit: Shutterstock)

Shaken, I finished crossing the road, and the car sped off to what I can only assume were anger management lessons.

I am not so proud to admit that just because the car was going too quickly, I am completely absolved of all wrongdoing. Had I been more situationally aware, I would have been able to hear the car coming fast, and wait for it to pass.

Ergo, had I not been wearing ANC earbuds, I would have been able to make a better judgment call when it came to crossing the road.

Near death — the second part of the tale

Someone using their phone while driving — (Image credit: Shutterstock)

Sometimes, I have to make my way into the local city, Bristol, for any number of reasons. Perhaps I’m buying the latest Assassin’s Creed game on disc because I am geriatric, or maybe I’m on my way to some unmentionable Black Metal gig that’s going to leave my ears ringing for days.

I don’t like the sound of the city. It’s overwhelming, a cacophony of awful that pervades every sense like a treacly ooze. It sticks to my brain and leaves me twice as tired as the same amount of time spent hiking in the countryside.

But I leave my ears free of ANC earbuds so that I can avoid situations like the above on what are ostensibly much busier, much more dangerous roads. Unfortunately, it seems like others don’t do the same.

A nonchalant pedestrian — (Image credit: Shutterstock)

I was walking a route I’ve followed what feels like hundreds of times before. One that takes me across as few roads as possible, so I don’t have to worry about the mentalists that seem to drive Britain's roads with what feels like a palpable hatred for pedestrians.

As I’ve done so many times before, I approached what’s usually quite a busy button-operated pedestrian crossing (or “crosswalk” as you say in the States), and pressed the little key. I waited for the green man to illuminate, and I began walking across the road.

Now, what’s supposed to happen is a red light stops the traffic so that pedestrians can safely cross the road — the issue is that some cyclists seem to think this light doesn’t apply to them. That they can cruise through.

The moment I stepped into the road, a cyclist turned off the pavement to go through the crossing despite the red light. Thankfully, he wasn’t going all that quickly, so our brief entanglement and tumble to the ground wasn’t as damaging as it could have been.

With his ANC buds in his ears, he was oblivious to the outside world and everything going in it.

A bike on the floor — (Image credit: Shutterstock)

How do I know? Because after picking ourselves up off the floor, the cyclist was uncommonly apologetic. “I’m so sorry,” he said, “I was just completely lost in my own world.” He was listening to his music, as many of us do, and the ANC had enraptured him to be unaware of his surroundings.

After dusting myself off and shaking hands with the also fairly shaken cyclist, my mind went to darker thoughts. What if he’d been going quicker, or if I’d have hit my head on the railings next to us? I don’t have a helmet, after all, and I’m not sure I should need one as a pedestrian.

Again, while there are other factors to the accident, ANC still played a part in what could very easily have been avoided by increased spatial and situational awareness.

Is there a time and a place for ANC?

AirPods Max review — (Image credit: Future)

I’m not going to sit here and say “ANC BAD, NEVER BUY ANC, IT NEARLY KILLED ME, MY DOG, AND MY MOM.” What I am going to say is that perhaps we need to be more aware of the issues surrounding the technology and how it can warp our perception of the world around us.

I’ve been terrified of my own dad when he’s tapped on my shoulder in my home office while I’m in my own ANC-created world. The whole point is to block out the world, to make it harder to hear what’s going on around us.

And while that’s fine in an office, on a train or in bed, it’s less fine when you need to be aware of your surroundings.

This is me putting my two cents into a discussion that’s been going on since teenagers were able to plug their ears with wired earbuds socketed into a Sony Walkman tape player. It’s an issue that’s ongoing, and it’s unlikely to see consensus anytime soon.

But as ANC finds fresh scrutiny around how it’s affecting the hearing of the young (via BBC), I do think it's important that we think about how we wear our earbuds and how we might be putting ourselves and others at risk.

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Tammy and her generous collection of headphones have found a new home — Tom's Guide! After a two-and-a-half-year stint as iMore's resident audiophile, Tammy's reviews and buying guide expertise have more focus than ever on Tom's Guide, helping buyers find the audio gear that works best for them. Tammy has worked with some of the most desirable audio brands on the planet in her time writing about headphones, speakers, and more, bringing a consumer focussed approach to critique and buying advice. Away from her desk, you'll probably find her in the countryside writing (extremely bad) poetry, or putting her screenwriting Masters to good use creating screenplays that'll never see the light of day.