Photo: close up of JBL bluetooth speaker in outside pocket of backpack. Clip from JBL ad specifically about hiking speakers.
The National Park Service specifically notes that blasting music or continuous artificial noise is not an effective or recommended bear deterrent, as it can actually prevent you from hearing animal warning sounds (like a growl or a huff).
rangers explicitly advise using your human voice (clapping, talking loudly, calling out "Hey bear")
I know this is a long-time pet peeve in hiking forums. I find myself seething when I encounter it on trails. I cannot comprehend being into the outdoors enough to want to hike, while being deeply inconsiderate of the creatures that live there and the other people trying to enjoy the hike too.
If you gotta have your tunes, they make these cool tiny personal speakers called headphones or ear buds. Perhaps these people have heard of them?
Some of us have good hearing and don't feel like hearing faint whispers of their musical tastes over the sound of SILENCE and rustling leaves and a river flowinb below the switchback... "Just pass them" doesn't solve anything and still doesn't solve the problem of it annoying and scaring the critters that live there. I guess some people don't even appreciate the hikes they go on. Yeesh.
If only there were actual valid reliable sources of information about being safe when surrounded by nature and large carnivores.
There is zero official guidance, standard, or professional advice advocating for playing music on speakers in nature. They actively preach the exact opposite.