I agree with Ms Gillian Loke that had her sister, Ms Loke Xiao Li, not been wearing noise-cancelling earbuds, she might have heard the cracking sound of the tree falling and avoided tragedy (Woman killed by falling tree in Marsiling Park was wearing noise-cancelling earbuds, ST Online, Feb 19).

As a regular jogger who loves listening to music while exercising, I use open-ear bone conduction headphones instead. Although their sound quality is lower than that of noise-cancelling headphones, they let me be aware of anything occurring in my surroundings, such as children passing by, and hear car or bicycle horns.

People who use noise-cancelling headphones should run only at safer places such as a stadium or a gym treadmill, for their own safety.

People can still enjoy their run as well as their music safely if they choose their equipment wisely.

Seah Yam Meng