In my experience I hear a lot more of my surroundings while biking even with earbuds than in a car with the windows rolled up. I eventually stopped because I was worried about long-term damage on my hearing from needing to turn it up so loud.

I guess you must be from some country were there are no safe bike lanes and everybody is supposed to drive a car.

Most of my commute is a 10 mile bike lane along a river. No pedestrians, no cars, no crossings, eyesight of a mile back and forth. And audio books are not like music, you can hear the whereabouts pretty well - it is less distracting than talking to a buddy while driving.

Bone-conduction headphones are a good compromise here - they don't block any of the incoming noise, though distraction may still be a problem.