The 8 Best Earplugs for Sleeping

Material: Foam | Noise reduction rating: 33 | Price: $.30 per pair

If there’s one brand name I heard more than any other while searching for the best earplugs, it was Mack’s. I also saw Mack’s pop up repeatedly while reading through some subreddits discussing the best earplugs for sleep. The effective noise-blocking, comfortable feel, and cheap price of these earplugs, won them the top spot on this list.

Reporter Claire Bryan says she’s long relied on Mack’s earplugs for falling asleep in her apartment above Eastern Parkway, one of Brooklyn’s busiest thoroughfares. “I love that my bedroom windows look out onto a wide street with great trees, but the trade-off is constant car noise,” she told us, adding that these help reduce the sound so she can sleep. “After you pinch and place, they expand in your ears like a little pillow, and you can’t even feel them.”

I also heard about these earplugs from writer Lisa McCarty. McCarty has hyperacusis, a condition that causes extreme sound sensitivity, and says she tried just about everything on the market before finding Mack’s. McCarty uses these earplugs in a variety of situations and brings them with her on the go, but she says she also uses them for sleep about two to three times per week. “They reduce the sounds of everything from construction noise to background conversation, making the room go quiet. It’s almost a meditative state when I put them in, as it helps me focus on my breathing instead of the noise and stimulation outside,” McCarty said. She says they are soft and flexible enough to wear at night, and while she doesn’t usually sleep on her side, when she does, they don’t hinder her sleeping. McCarty says the only drawback is that “if you twist the soft foam too tight they can push against the inside of your ear,” — however, she says using a gentle touch easily prevents this.

Material: Silicone | Noise rating reduction: 22 | Price: $2 per pair

If you’d rather not stick an earplug into your ear, these moldable silicone earplugs might do the trick. Rather than being inserted into the ear canal, these earplugs act like a cap to the ear canal, molding into the concha (the flat-ish part of your ear where your ear canal begins). To use them, all you have to do is warm up the silicone by rolling it around in your hands and then press and flatten it in your ear. At first, I found this process a little weird — it feels a little like sticking Play-Doh in your ears. But once I got the silicone molded and flattened the way I wanted it, I was really impressed with both how comfortable the earplugs felt and how much noise they blocked out. I found this design was especially beneficial for sleeping on my side, as I didn’t have to worry about the ends of the earplug poking into my pillow and putting pressure on my ear. The pieces of silicone are pretty large, but you can break them into smaller pieces if needed.

These earplugs come in a pack of eight and are reusable, according to the Eargasm customer service representative I spoke to. But they will eventually have to be replaced after extended use, as they might get dirty. However, I think you should be able to get decent mileage out of these, which might justify the slightly higher cost per pair, compared to some of the other earplugs on this list (minus the infinitely reusable ones).

Material: Wax | Noise rating reduction: 23 | Price: $1.23 per pair

These wax earplugs come recommended by two of our experts, both of whom like the moldable nature of wax earplugs — similar to the Eargasm Squishies’ moldable silicone. “They do an outstanding job of conforming to the ear to block out sound,” says Bill Fish, president at Sleep Doctor. “But they are also quite comfortable, as they come with a soft cotton cover around the wax.” Fish admits that these cost a bit more than foam earplugs, but he says “many users swear by [their] ability to block out ambient noises.” And per earplug, they are cheaper than our other moldable pick. Rose Annis, the director of sales strategy and marketing at Atlas Obscura, is another fan of what she calls these “old-timey” wax earplugs. “The wax becomes pliable as it responds to your body heat, making them fit comfortably no matter how misshaped your ears might be,” she told us. Like the Squishies, these wax earplugs also fit into the outer ear, not directly into the ear canal.

When former Strategist senior writer Lauren Levy (née Schwartzberg) tested a bunch of earplugs for sleeping, experts she spoke to told her that some foam earplugs might be too big for average (or smaller than average) ear canals. That’s one reason why she named these Swedish-designed silicone earplugs from Happy Ears as her favorites, because “the tiny, round tip comes in three sizes and gently disappears into the ear” — a benefit for side-sleepers, she notes, because “it won’t push against the pillow. Levy added that the earplugs are “formed from an FDA-approved clear thermo-plastic that reduces all noise by 25 decibels on average, enough to turn normal conversation into a muted whisper.” The price shown is for one pair, which Happy Ears says is reusable. However, if you aren’t sure the small size is right for you, you can order their Discovery Pack for $34.50, which allows you to try all three sizes to find the right fit.

Material: Earbuds with silicone ear tips | Noise reduction rating: N/A | Price: $150 for one reusable pair

I was really interested in trying out these Bluetooth sleep earbuds because I love listening to a podcast when I’m taking a nap or even just laying down in bed to rest — I think it gives me something to distract my mind from delving into overthinking. But most earbuds are at least a little uncomfortable to sleep in. Testing these out, I was pretty impressed with how unobtrusive they feel to sleep in. They look like fairly normal earbuds, but they have an overall flatter design, as well as a silicone wingtip that acts like a cushion between the harder pieces of the earbud and the ear itself. The earbuds also come with three different wingtip sizes you can try, as well as four sizes of sealed ear tips for noise blocking and three sizes of “breathable” ear tips that allow for more airflow, but don’t noise block. This level of customization makes these already comfortable earbuds even more versatile.

I first tested the earbuds out by listening to a podcast. The sound quality wasn’t quite as good as my AirPods (which I usually use), but these sleep earbuds felt far better on my ears, especially when laying on my side, since they don’t stick out of my ears as much as the AirPods do. The next time I tested them out, I downloaded the Soundcore app to play around with, which offers a lot of features. You can switch between Bluetooth mode (which allows you to play whatever you want from your phone) and Sleep mode (which allows you to play white noise or a variety of nature/ASMR-esque sounds through the app). And you can do a fair amount of customization in the app, such as setting a timer on the sounds (so you aren’t playing music/audio after you’ve already fallen asleep) or creating your own custom sounds. There are also some sleep-tracking features in the app. I don’t think I would sleep with these every single night, but I will definitely continue to use them for listening to music or podcasts while taking a nap or other similar situations.

Material: Silicone | Noise reduction rating: 20 | Price: $20 for one reusable pair

If you’re looking for earplugs specifically designed to help you sleep on a flight, two of the experts we spoke to recommend these Earplanes’ silicone earplugs as a red-eye essential that can serve as a sleep aid at home, too. As the name suggests, they’re designed specifically for use on airplanes and have four rings meant to mitigate changes in air pressure (that also help to muffle in-flight noise). Dr. Michael Breus, the self-proclaimed Sleep Doctor (who is also a clinical psychologist and fellow of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine), told us that they were designed by the House Ear Institute, a leading ear surgery and research center in California, and were tested by U.S. Navy pilots before being introduced to the general public. The price shown is for one pair, but the earplugs are reusable, according to the brand. However, it is worth noting that the brand doesn’t say they are endlessly reusable. In their Amazon listing, they recommend using the earplugs five times, while on their website, they recommend replacing them after two weeks. That’s because the earplugs have a filter that slows the shift of air pressure entering your ear and after multiple uses, the filter can become clogged.