I don't see it as being an issue. They don't howl? Ok..
I turn off the compass. So no cheating red dots. I also play with no music. So, no cheating fight songs to tell me in advance. No howling to give away their position. That means my character can get sneak attacked just like they can sneak attack.
Someone once made the point that the red dots aren't cheating because they are more or less making up for the fact that your senses are essentially dulled playing your character, as you in real life have a much wider field of vision, would be able to hear more and more precisely, you'd have a sense of smell, and all of the shortcomings that come along with not being in that environment and just managing it with the use of a controller. I tend to agree with this, as most human to computer interfaces are pretty terrible.