I know you're sarcastically talking about earpods, but that isn't 100% true. The cable can act as an antenna and transmit sounds unintentionally. One example of

I know you're sarcastically talking about earpods, but that isn't 100% true. The cable can act as an antenna and transmit sounds unintentionally. One example of this is GSM phones causing a buzzing sound in nearby speakers/headphones that aren't properly filtering interference. Another are portable radios that use the headphone's cable as an antenna to receive FM signals.