I’m too dependent on my ears to monitor and enjoy the world around me ever to consider ear buds or any such while outdoors.
Tried it for a while when weeding flower beds and garden. One of our mares was highly social and loved to wander free and graze in the yard while we were out and about. But she also had a clear and wicked sense of humor. It was fun to watch when my wife was the victim, but my humor ran thin when I was in her crosshairs. That goofy mare loved to sneak up quietly behind a kneeling victim, reach forward and snort loudly in the nearest ear from inches away. We might have written it off as curiosity, just a sociable horse wondering what you were doing. But you could watch her tiptoe and move as silent as a panther when she was closing in for her stunt. The fact that she’d give a big whinnying horse laugh as you ricochetted of wall and fence was another dead giveaway.
The mare is happily living with another family like all our other horses, but she along with the local bears trained me to rely on my ears.
Processing? Gimme a Beethoven symphony on great speakers turned real low.