What sounds bleed the most (headphones)? - music related

I commute to work on a bus, and then after arriving downtown, I walk to work in a loud urban soundscape. I always am listening to music thru my iGrado headphones. (Considering the noise level, even SR60s would be overkill.)

This morning I caught an earlier bus than usual, and which was emptier than usual. There was an empty seat in the middle of the bus. There were few people nearby, but the engine was quite loud, so I turned my music up a bit. It was listening to the final movement of Bruckner's 5th Symphony, which has lots and lots of loud brass "trumpet fanfare" type music.

At the stop before mine, a woman came up to me and tapped me on the knee. She said, "Your headphones aren't working, I can hear them." I was half-expecting her to say she'd slightly heard the music, and say she liked Bruckner too (or something like that), and so it didn't register what she'd said until after she'd left, that she was complaining.

I've been using iGrado headphones for commuting for several years, and no one has said anything before. Usually the noise level is much louder on the bus, so that partly explains it. But I suspect a major reason was because the loud brass carries so easily.

As well as loud high brass, what other sounds tend to "bleed" from headphones the most?

 

Bob Dylan's harmonica on John Wesley Harding can escape every pair of headphones known to man.

 

Higher frequencies always bleed more, especially when "naked," i.e. relatively exposed with not much in nearby EQ bands. I do use Grado SR60s on the bus, though, and I suspect I'm "part of the problem" (in the sense of people who impose their music on others) since I listen pretty loud.

 

Also, anything panned hard into one channel is going to bleed like crazy.

I have noticed that Grado SR60s, because of their open design, are actually slightly louder outside the cans than inside.

 

Around 1k is the easiest frequencies for humans to hear ( God apparently designed it that way because that is the general center of the human voice as well) so I would say anything in that range. Violins, trumpets, guitars, some piano. Given the timbre of most brass instruments in that range it wouldn't surprise me that their sound would travel. Brass instruments project REAL well.

 

Please do not listen to music with Grados on a bus. You will seriously damage your hearing if you continue to do it.

 

I have to concur.
The nice thing about closed back headphones is that there is less bleed both ways. This means you can listen comfortably at a lower, healthier volume. It's really much better for your ears. You can train yourself by lowering the volume even more. With good isolation the music will still easily drown out external noise.

 

Brass instruments.

 

High hats. When I used to do recording, this was the hardest thing to block out when recording acoustic guitar. It always bled through the phones and right into the mic -- especially if it was a drum machine high hat. I assume this is what the bus passenger heard.

 

Reba Mcintyre

 

Noddy from Slade singing