Headphones!
I got some new headphones recently because they were insanely cheap (<$25). I’m using them for the first time today and for $25 they seem pretty great.
My biggest complaint is that they are always noise canceling all the time. The noise canceling seems to work pretty well, though. If you need headphones somewhere that you are sure you want noise canceling, these are recommended.
For a spare, or if you are going to wear them to the gym (they have ear clips so they are less likely to fall out than your typical ear buds) these seem pretty great.
Another Affordable Set
I bought these because I left my primary pair (a Jabra Elite version that’s apparently no longer available That’s still available for about $100) where I couldn’t get them for some months, so I needed another set. At $45, these are a great deal. I used them on an airplane recently and was blown away at how well the noise canceling worked.
I also like that they have an app that lets you program the buttons to do as you wish and tune the noise canceling to your own actual ears.
Also, you can use one of the buttons to switch the noise canceling off to “hear through” so that in the event that you want to talk to someone or hear what’s going on, it’s a quick push to be able to do that.
For $45 the feature list is pretty long, and they are not noticeably inferior to my “fancy” Jabra ear buds.
What I wear while running
I have these induction earphones (they work by pushing on the bones around your ears) that I prefer for running. They don’t go in your ear at all, so if you are about to get run over by a car, there is a reasonable chance that you will hear it coming, and if you want to exchange pleasantries with someone you see on the street, you can probably hear them well enough without bothering to turn off whatever you’re listening to.
And at $70, they don’t break the bank.
Note: If I’m lucking, these links will get an Amazon referral code tagged on by the Discourse Affiliate Plugin and I’ll get a few pennies should anyone click any of these links. I’m pretty sure that thus far, I’ve not gotten enough clicks for that to happen, but maybe someone will find them useful anyway.