Depending on the population of your intended listening post, you might be able to use these speakers to get through just one of the latest songs from Norah Jones, or all of both sides of the new Red Hot Chili Peppers double album. Whatever the case, you’ll appreciate the irony that these speakers are wearable, yet they are not earbuds, so you can share your music with the world.

They are the SSPS-1, the product of Safe Sound Sports. The impetus was to create a solution to “iPod zombies,” MP3 player listeners who ignored their surroundings at their peril. Some of that peril has been injurious, and some has been deadly.

The speakers are quite small and can be worn around your neck or pinned to your top layer of clothing, whatever that happens to be. The idea is that even though you might have the volume up high enough to annoy your friends and neighbors, you can still hear things like the warning of accelerating buses and the squealing of tires of cars trying to stop.

The price isn’t at all bad, at just US$19.95.