It’s half past five, it’s getting dark outside, and you’re on your way home from work with music in your ears. ANC is on, of course, and after a whole day you’re finally switching your brain off. Peace at last. But this is exactly the time when drivers see you worst. Being able to hear what’s going on around you matters more now than at any other point in the day.
Let’s work out when to switch your headphones to transparency mode and when it’s better to take them out completely.
1. ANC and transparency mode do the exact opposite
ANC (active noise cancellation) works by microphones in your headphones picking up the noise around you, and the headphones adding an opposite sound that cancels it out. It copes best with constant droning, like a bus engine or a train. Sudden, sharp sounds get muffled less.
Transparency mode (also called ambient or pass-through mode) is its counterpart. The same microphones pick up your surroundings and play them into your ears, while your music keeps playing.
And now the important bit. In transparency mode, street sound doesn’t reach your ear through the headphones. It comes through a microphone and a speaker. You hear it after a trip through electronics. Why does that matter?
2. Transparency mode isn’t the same as nothing in your ears
When you put earbuds in, the path sound takes to reach you changes. A microphone captures it, the earbud processes it and plays it back right next to your ear. Something always gets lost along the way.
Direction suffers most. Your brain works out where a sound comes from using tiny differences between your left and right ear and the way sound wraps around your outer ear. Earbuds don’t reproduce all of that. In one experiment with ten people and three common models, the accuracy with which people could tell where a sound came from dropped from 91.5 to 68.9 percent. The sample was small and it was a lab. But direction is exactly what you need to know when a bike bell rings behind you or a car brakes.
Add the fact that cities are getting quieter. You hear electric cars and e-scooters late even without headphones. That’s why German road safety experts at DEKRA advise: if you wear headphones, use transparency mode or turn ANC off. And best of all, take them out. No technology, they say, replaces attention.
So transparency mode is better than ANC and worse than nothing in your ears. It helps you notice that something is going on around you. It won’t reliably tell you where.
3. Where to keep ANC on and where to switch it off
Just go by how far you are from the road.
On a train, a tram, in the office or on a park bench, keep ANC on. You’re out of traffic there.
Walking on a pavement next to a busy road? Switch to transparency mode and turn the volume down a little. The point isn’t for the song to sound its best, but for you to be able to hear what’s going on around you. Feel free to keep just one earbud in. Do the same at a bus stop when you’re standing close to the road.
Crossing the road? Earbuds out, phone in your pocket. It takes a few seconds. Transparency mode won’t help you here, because when you cross you need to know where a car is coming from, and it can’t tell you that.
Walking along the edge of a road with no pavement? Transparency mode isn’t enough here. Earbuds out, and put something reflective on your jacket or bag.
Looking for earbuds that do both ANC and transparency mode? LAMAX Clips1 Plus have ANC up to 30 dB and a transparency mode in which your music keeps playing. They’re still in-ear earbuds, so everything we’ve said above applies.
4. Why this matters in autumn
Days are getting shorter, and after the clocks change it starts getting dark around 4 p.m. According to the Czech Transport Research Centre (CDV), one in five road deaths in October and November is a pedestrian. The worst time is between five and seven in the evening, when you’re heading home from work, school or training.
Drivers see you less well at dusk. They’re supposed to slow down and pay attention, that’s their job. But there are two things you can influence. Be visible: a reflective strip on your bag or jacket. And be able to hear your surroundings: that’s where the right headphone settings pay off.
5. Pocket checklist
✔ In traffic, I keep ANC off.
✔ Near the road, I switch to transparency mode and turn the volume down.
✔ When in doubt, one earbud is enough.
✔ At a crossing, I take my earbuds out and put my phone away.
✔ At the edge of a road with no pavement, I have nothing in my ears.
✔ I have something reflective on my jacket or bag.
Frequently asked questions
Is ANC dangerous outdoors? In traffic, yes, because ANC cancels exactly the sounds you rely on to find your way around. German experts at DEKRA call it especially risky because it works even at low music volume. It belongs on a train or in the office, not at a crossing.
Is transparency mode the same as taking your headphones off? No, transparency mode is better than ANC but worse than nothing in your ears. A microphone and speaker deliver the outside sound, so it’s harder to tell where it’s coming from. In one experiment, accuracy in judging a sound’s direction dropped from 91.5 to 68.9 percent.
When should you take your headphones off completely? It’s best to take them out completely when crossing the road and at the edge of a road with no pavement. When crossing you need to know where a car is coming from, and transparency mode can’t reliably tell you that. Put your phone in your pocket in the meantime.
