Indeed, hence the decent headphones comment. With my Shure E4c in-ear phones, I can be sitting on the bus, blissfully listening to some Stevie Wonder whilst watching Croydon facelift girl scream at her 12 year old and not hear a word of hers - fabulous!
In fact last year I did all my Christmas shopping round Croydon with them in, only taking them out to communicate briefly with the cashier (as I think it very rude to be listening to music or talking on a phone when paying for something). Honestly, it reduced my normal levels of shopping stress by at least tenfold!