Wearing earphones while cycling — is it allowed? What does the Highway Code say?

I don't think it should be illegal, but I personally only wear bone conducting headphones when cycling, and I pause whatever I'm listening to while I'm on the more challenging bits of my commute. Apart from anything else, I can't hear a podcast over the traffic noise!

I only have the radio on at fairly low volume when driving too, and keep my phone out of reach so I'm never tempted to check it. 

The point about deaf people being allowed to cycle/drive isn't irrelevant, but people who are deaf are used to relying on their vision, and the abundance of mirrors on my car (which I use regularly) makes hearing less important. Some people with hearing may be able to compensate fine when wearing headphones with the volume turned up, but for me it's not just about not hearing something approaching from behind, it's about not being distracted. 

I wear one earbud, just in my left ear. I like to be able to hear cars coming up behind me, and the bells of other cyclists if they're wanting to overtake. I'd say it's helped my cycling, since before I would get so bored I'd end up going faster and taking more risks trying to get home sooner.

Cycling with headphones in NL here when on a dedicated rural cycle path. When its shared i turn music off or take a bud out on the left side so i can hear traffic. Its easy really. 

No way to wear headphones when cycling. I would feel very unsafe in junctions as it is a extra level of safety and it would mean that I am bored when I cycle, that doesn't happen so far.

Pretty much always use a pair of wireless headphones when I'm riding solo. Any decisions I make about positioning/changing direction should be informed by what I can see, not what I think might be coming or around me

When I was younger, a squirrel taught me that as a pedestrian venturing out into traffic, I had to: Stop. Look. Listen. Something I still do and teach my kids to do.

Having said that, I run and cycle with Shokz bone conducting ear phones in. I only listen to music and I use the music to keep rhythm. When I'm running, if I need to venture into the road, I am constantly checking over my shoulder. Even without the Shokz in, I wouldn't rely on just my hearing to alert me to maniacs drivers.

I recently bought a bar mirror for my bike. It is fantastic. Especially at this time of the year - I can usually spot headlights in the mirror out of the corner of my eye.

Hearing is useful. It might give you a heads up before sight does, but I will always confirm it with my eyes anyway.

People are driving around in 3,000-pound vehicles staring at screens instead of paying attention to the road while listening to stereos turned up so loud they couldn't hear a nuke go off if it exploded in the adjacent bike lane, and we're worried about cyclists wearing earphones? This has led to exactly how many pedestrians and/or motorists being hit and killed by said cyclists? I don't use them personally. I think they make cycling less safe rather than more safe though in some, maybe most cases, there is so much ambient noise it really doesn't matter because you can't hear anything coming from behind anyway. So to everyone their own risk assessment.  It's a personal decision as with the walkers and runners who wear earphones on quiet and deserted paths where there are known risks of getting mugged. Should earphones be banned there, too?

If they're banned in France, why are Tour riders allowed to use them? And not only do the listen, they sometimes take their hands off the bars to cue a microphone so they can talk back. Isn't it about time the UCI did something about that? Steering with one hand is more dangerous than steering with your forearms atop an aero bar, especially if you're preoccupied with listening to someone on the radio and fiddling with a button for your mic.

"M'Lud, if only the deceased was not wearing headphones, he would have heard my client approaching and been able to take avoiding action"

I think cycling may have cost me my hearing about 9000hz. I've lived in rural Saskatchewan for most of my cycling life, and strong winds are a way of life, with my ears ringing badly often after spring rides. If I had it to do again, I'd wear in-ear buds to cut the wind noise on highway rides, because I could never hear a car anyway. In the city is very different, but on the hightways I lived on I could do 50km rides and see 4 cars total my whole time on the road.

What does the Law / Highway Code say about playing loud music in cars fitted with acoustic absorbing glass and with the windows up?

I think it's like helmets - leave it to the discretion of the cyclist, and leave the law out if it. And as with helmets, you probably will find that most comply with the outcome desired by would-be legislators anyway, without the need for legislation. But of course, that won't scratch the itch of those who just want to put cyclists in their place.

I'll ride with earbuds- the volume always kept low- I want to hear if I have a puncture, brake rub, misaligned derailleur etc.I ride with a 3rd eye mirror on my glasses and unless I can see I always assume a vehicle is behind me. If a driver wants to hit me, there's not much I can do about that anyways. 

I wear the bone phones they work fine for me a 79 year old chap they don't itch and I can even hear the car/van drivers blasted nose they call pop music, those drivers must be deaf! My bone phones can even tell me the radar has picked up traffic behind me even as I listen to Tony Blackburn.

Deafness is not notifiable by drivers to DVLA, then there's the drivers in my road whose ICE I can hear in my house when they come and go. 

My view, notwithstanding the above is that you need all your spidey senses about you on full function when cycling.  On night rides, you get good aural warning of the occasional absolute idiot driver coming your way.  Useful too on a blind junction on my old commute.   

Countries where cycling with earphones is illegal ... what is their stance on hearing aids - especially ones like mine that I can Bluetooth audio to and use as handsfree kit for the phone?

I wear earplugs when I'm on a motorbike, I can't see how headphones on a bicycle are any worse

Personally, I would never hear ear based headphones where cycling.  Hearing is a big part of awareness when in cities especially.  I have toured in several European countries where it is just not allowed and I accept that.  However, I have found that bone conducting phones work well, especially when on a tour where the organiser provides audible cues for navigation.  The fact that you are still able to hear what is going on around you but also hear the navigation details is a big plus.  That is the only situation where I would consider wearing any kind of 'phone'.

I've been tempted to wear my iPods and even gave it a try once  but I removed them after a km or so, simply wasn't comfortable knowing that I couldn't hear traffic anymore. 

I believe it's just too dangerous but each his own.  Ok, so you should visually check your rear but I also rely on my hearing and I do believe that the music reduces one's situational awareness.  Seems silly to throw that extra safety margin away. 

There's a couple of aspects to using headphones when cycling.

Firstly - is it significantly more dangerous? The data doesn't back up that it is a big problem, but does suggest a minor effect. That seems plausible as you're invariably going to have some minor level of distraction when listening to music, but the level might be similar to having a slightly scratchy glove etc. Also, hearing is only really useful for giving advance notice of vehicles behind you and there's not much you can do to affect what they're going to do aside from either taking primary or heading towards the kerb. Lack of hearing can easily be mitigated by looking behind yourself more often (handlebar mirrors for the win!).

Secondly - why is it only cyclists that need 100% hearing? This just seems like typical ant-cyclist sentiment - find anything that someone can criticise about cyclists and make it into some massive issue to push the agenda that they're law-breaking miscreants that have no place on the road (or pavement and they certainly shouldn't have their own infrastructure). To be fair, pedestrians are also criticised for using headphones and not paying attention, but that's usually due to an utter lack of awareness by some peds (e.g. joggers blocking a shared path and never looking behind themselves) and doesn't really compare to cyclists using headphones as cyclists are typically travelling as part of traffic whilst peds are going to be attempting to cross traffic.

Personally, I prefer to listen to my surroundings whilst cycling, but I don't think headphone use is particularly dangerous when compared to all the other hazards out there. As I said in the Live blog, I'd consider poorly inflated tyres to be a bigger safety issue than wearing headphones.

Deaf people are allowed to ride a bike - the end.