Posted on
May 13, 2021 by joeym
Wearing headphones while riding a bicycle or while driving is really not a good idea. Ford conducted an experiment, and found that cyclists and drivers were four seconds slower to identify potential road hazards when wearing headphones. Ford is now letting the public try out the virtual experience themselves using their smartphones. It’s called Share The Road: Safe and Sound, and uses “8D” audio, a new sound technology that makes our brains think audio is constantly moving and coming from different directions. This issue is that wearing headphones causes a reduction in the vehicle and roadway sounds the driver can hear, and leads to the driver underestimating vehicle speed—this happened in both a lab setting and on the road, when driving during both day and night. (Daily Mail)