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On this page: Overview
Key Takeaways
Sleep earbuds or headband headphones, noise-cancelling earbuds, headphone sleep masks, white or pink noise, ear defenders and bedroom soundproofing such as curtains and door seals. Of these, ear defenders and soundproofing come closest to an earplug at reducing sound; sleep earbuds add only a light passive seal, and noise machines add sound rather than removing it.
Not on current evidence. In a small Penn Medicine lab study published in Sleep in February 2026, about 50 dB of pink noise cut REM sleep by around 19 minutes a night, while earplugs largely protected deep sleep from traffic-type noise.
You can, but they work best on steady low-frequency hum and do much less against voices, door slams or snoring. The hard shell presses on the pillow when you lie on your side, and the battery has to last the whole night.
For back sleepers on an occasional very loud night, yes. On your side, the rigid cups press into the pillow, lift away from the head and break the seal, and they trap heat around the ears.
Only partly. Ordinary or blackout curtains take off around 2–5 dB and heavy acoustic curtains around 5–10 dB in vendor tests, mostly in the mid and high frequencies. Low traffic rumble and snoring pass through far more easily.
For most side sleepers, yes. A low-profile silicone earplug such as Life+ (SNR 24 dB) sits flush in the ear, needs no battery and reduces the sound itself, while earbud shells and ear defender cups press against the pillow.
People look for an alternative to earplugs for sleeping for ordinary reasons. The plugs work loose by 3 am, foam ones start to itch after a week, or there is a nagging worry about sleeping through the alarm. On one long-running patient forum about sleep, a member put it plainly: foam was too uncomfortable, while soft silicone plugs were by far the most comfortable option they had tried.
At Bollsen, we have made reusable silicone earplugs since 2016, from our base in Ljubljana, and they are trusted by 1,000,000+ people. So we have a fair idea where earplugs earn their place at night, and where something else does the job better. Below, each common alternative gets judged on the same four points: what it does to the noise, how it feels when you lie on your side, roughly what it costs, and a short verdict.
One distinction matters throughout. Earplugs, ear defenders and soundproofing reduce the night-time noise that reaches your ear. A noise machine masks it with a second sound. Noise-cancelling electronics subtract part of it. For the wider picture on choosing and wearing earplugs for sleeping, including fit, comfort and hygiene, our sleep hub collects every guide in this series in one place.
What can you use instead of earplugs for sleeping?
The main alternatives to earplugs for sleeping are sleep earbuds or headband headphones, noise-cancelling (ANC) earbuds, headphone sleep masks, white, pink or brown noise, ear defenders and bedroom soundproofing such as curtains and door seals, plus wax or foam plugs if silicone does not suit you.
They do quite different jobs. Earplugs and ear defenders lower the level reaching the eardrum, a noise machine adds sound to the room, and ANC subtracts mainly steady low-frequency hum. The World Health Organization noise guidance puts the target for a bedroom at under 30 dB(A) on average through the night, with single noise events below 45 dB. That makes a handy yardstick for every option in the table.
| Option | What it does to the noise | Comfort lying on your side | Typical cost (UK) | Best for | Main drawback |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sleep earbuds / headband headphones | Plays sound; light passive seal | Earbud shells press on the pillow; soft headbands are kinder | Low to high, depending on brand | Falling asleep to audio | Little real reduction; needs charging |
| Noise-cancelling (ANC) earbuds | Cancels steady low hum electronically | Hard shell presses on the pillow | Mid to high (premium earbuds) | Steady engine or traffic rumble | Weak on voices and sudden bangs; overnight battery |
| Headphone / noise-cancelling sleep masks | Plays sound and blocks light | Flat speakers, usually fine | Low to mid | Audio and darkness in one band | Most models add little passive reduction |
| White, pink or brown noise | Masks noise; adds sound to the room | Nothing touches the ear | Free (apps) to low (a machine) | Covering irregular sounds | ~50 dB pink noise cut REM sleep by ~19 min in a 2026 lab study |
| Ear defenders | Strong passive reduction (SNR printed on the pack) | Poor: cups press into the pillow | Typically low | Back sleepers on a very loud night | Bulky, warm, seal breaks on your side |
| Soundproofing (curtains, door seals, rugs, bed position) | Curtains ~2–5 dB, heavy acoustic ~5–10 dB; seals close gaps | Nothing touches the ear | Free (moving the bed) to high (glazing) | Hallway noise, street-facing rooms | Low frequencies pass through walls |
| Wax or foam earplugs | Passive reduction in or over the ear canal | Wax sits flush; foam pressure bothers some | Pence to a few pounds a pair | People who dislike silicone | Wax is mostly single use; foam wears out fast |
| Silicone earplugs (Life+, reference) | Passive reduction, SNR 24 dB | Low profile, flush fit | £29.95, up to 100 uses | Mixed night noise, side sleepers | Quieter, not silent; a few nights to get used to |
Treat the table as a shortlist, not a ranking. Some options work best together (earplugs with heavier curtains, for example), and the sections below give each one a straight verdict.
Music SoundPRO★ 4.8 · 514 reviews
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Life+★ 4.7 · 3,700 reviewsLife+★ 4.7 · 3,700 reviewsMusic SoundPRO★ 4.8 · 514 reviewsWatersafe+★ 4.8 · 684 reviewsLife+★ 4.7 · 3,700 reviewsCan sleep earbuds or headphones replace earplugs at night?
Sleep earbuds and headband headphones can replace earplugs for people who mainly want something to listen to. But they are built to play sound into the ear, not block it. Their passive seal is usually weaker than a well-fitted earplug, so outside noise tends to be covered rather than reduced.
Comfort lying down is the second catch. An earbud is a hard shell holding a battery and a driver, and when you sleep on your side the pillow pushes it into the ear. Soft headband headphones avoid that pressure, which is why one user on an Australian bargain-hunting forum suggested a sleep headband instead of plugs. On their own, though, they reduce very little.
At night the earplugs versus earbuds question comes down to whether you want sound or quiet. Our full comparison of earplugs vs earbuds sets fit, seal and daytime use side by side. Our verdict for sleep is short: earbuds are a good audio device and a weak noise barrier.
What about noise-cancelling earbuds?
Active noise cancellation (ANC) uses tiny microphones and an inverted sound wave to cancel noise, and it works best on steady, low-frequency sound such as engine rumble, traffic hum or a fan. It does far less against sudden or speech-band sounds, such as a door slam, voices in the hallway or the stop-start rhythm of snoring.
The electronics also need power for seven or eight hours, so battery life and nightly charging become part of the routine, and the same hard shell presses on the pillow. If you sleep on your back and the noise is a steady hum, ANC earbuds can work. Against the mixed noise of most bedrooms, they rarely beat a passive seal.
Where do headphone sleep masks fit?
Headphone sleep masks put flat speakers inside a padded eye mask, so darkness and audio come in one soft band, and some newer designs add noise cancellation. They suit people who want light and sound handled together, though most add little passive reduction. We cover the designs in our guides to sleep masks with headphones and to noise cancelling sleep masks, including which bedrooms and sleepers each type suits best.
Is masking noise with white or pink noise the same as blocking it?
Masking with white, pink or brown noise is not the same as blocking. A noise machine or app covers disturbing sounds by adding a steady sound on top of them, so the total sound in the bedroom goes up. An earplug or ear defender lowers the level that reaches the ear.
The most recent evidence comes from a small Penn Medicine study on pink noise and REM sleep, led by Mathias Basner and published in the journal Sleep in February 2026. In 25 healthy adults, about 50 dB pink noise cut REM sleep by around 19 minutes a night, while earplugs largely protected deep sleep from traffic-type noise. An earlier systematic review of noise as a sleep aid rated the evidence that continuous noise improves sleep as very low quality.
Our verdict: masking can make an irregular sound less noticeable, but it adds sound rather than taking any away. How each colour of noise behaves at night is covered in our guide to pink, white and brown noise for sleep, and we explain how night-time noise affects your body clock in our article on the circadian rhythm.
Are ear defenders practical for sleeping?
Ear defenders give strong passive noise reduction, and the SNR printed on the packaging tells you how much. For sleep, though, most people find them impractical. The rigid cups press into the pillow, shift when you turn over and trap heat around the ears.
They work best for back sleepers through a short, very loud spell, such as building work next door or a night on a ferry. On your side, the cup lifts away from the head and breaks the seal, which is the part doing the work. Electronic sound cancelling earmuffs add a battery and extra weight to the same problem.
We do not make adult ear defenders, so we have no stake in this verdict: excellent protection, awkward in bed. For how sound cancelling earmuffs differ in design, rating and daytime use, our earmuff guide goes into the detail.
How much quieter can soundproofing make a bedroom?
Soundproofing a bedroom usually makes it only a few decibels quieter: ordinary or blackout curtains take off around 2–5 dB and heavy acoustic curtains around 5–10 dB in vendor tests, mostly in the mid and high frequencies. Low-frequency traffic rumble and snoring pass through walls and glass far more easily.
For context, a 3 dB drop halves the sound energy, yet most listeners only just notice a change of that size. Curtains also leak round the edges, so a track or pelmet that seals to the wall often does more than an extra layer of fabric.
- Door draught seal (cheap, and quick to fit): closes the gap under the door, the cheapest fix for hallway voices and a flatmate’s television.
- Rugs and soft furnishings (a moderate outlay): absorb echo inside the room, but do little against a neighbour’s bass.
- Moving the bed (free): putting your head away from the shared wall or the street-facing window can matter more than any purchase.
- Heavy acoustic curtains (typically a bigger outlay per window): around 5–10 dB on mid and high frequencies when the edges are sealed.
- Secondary or upgraded glazing (typically the most expensive option): the biggest single step against street noise, and the most expensive.
Our verdict: do the cheap things first, and treat soundproofing as a partner to whatever you wear. On its own, it rarely brings a noisy bedroom down to the WHO night-time target of 30 dB.
Are wax or foam earplugs a better fit if silicone doesn’t suit you?
If the objection is the feel of silicone rather than earplugs in general, mouldable wax and memory foam plugs are the other answer, although they are still earplugs and still reduce sound by sealing the ear canal.
Mouldable plugs soften with body heat and sit over the entrance to the canal, and our guide to wax earplugs explains how they seal and why most are single use. Expanding foam gives a firm seal at very low cost, though some people find the pressure uncomfortable after a few nights, and our article on foam earplugs covers fitting and how often to replace them.
Choosing a material is a comparison in its own right, so we keep it short here. For silicone, foam and wax side by side, see the types of earplugs for sleeping compared on comfort, seal, reuse and cost per night.
When are earplugs still the best option?
Earplugs are still the best option when you want to reduce the sound itself rather than mask it, sleep on your side, travel or share a room. A good pair is silent, needs no battery, fits in a pocket and sits low enough in the ear not to press on the pillow.
For most of the situations in this guide, the option we would point to is our Life+ earplugs, made from hypoallergenic silicone with a low-profile, flush fit designed for side sleepers. They are German-tested, independently certified 24 dB (SNR), reusable for up to 100 uses and cost £29.95, about 30p a night, with a 40-day money-back guarantee.
The two worries we hear most are the alarm and whether it is safe to sleep with earplugs every night. Loud alarms stay audible with earplugs in because they are loud, not because certain frequencies pass through. Our answer to is it safe to sleep with earplugs every night covers ear wax, cleaning and fit for nightly use.
Our verdict: for mixed, irregular or partly low-frequency noise, earplugs are still the simplest tool that removes sound rather than adding to it. Choosing between sleep earplugs is a separate question, and our complete sleep earplugs buyer’s guide walks through ratings, sizes and materials.
Which alternative suits your situation?
The right alternative depends on the noise and on how you sleep: earplugs suit snoring and mixed noise, soundproofing suits hallway and street noise, noise-cancelling earbuds suit steady hum for back sleepers, and a headphone sleep mask suits people who want audio in the dark.
- A snoring partner: snoring is irregular, often loud and mostly low-frequency, so masking and ANC struggle with it. Earplugs plus a door seal usually work best, and our guide on how to sleep next to a snoring partner adds routines and positions that help both of you.
- Street or traffic noise: heavier curtains with sealed edges and the bed moved away from the window, with earplugs for the low rumble that still gets through.
- Neighbours or a noisy hallway: a door draught seal and a rug first, then earplugs for voices and footsteps.
- Side sleepers: a low-profile silicone or wax earplug, since earbud shells and ear defender cups press into the pillow.
- A shared room or a partner’s early alarm: earplugs or a headphone mask, so you are not adding sound the other person has to hear.
- Ringing in the ears or sleep trouble that lasts: ringing, buzzing or poor sleep that goes on for weeks is worth raising with a GP. The NHS guidance on tinnitus and the NHS advice on insomnia explain what to expect, and Bollsen earplugs are comfort and hearing-protection products, not medical devices.
Every alternative here does something useful, but ear defenders and soundproofing come closest to an earplug at reducing sound, and both come with real trade-offs in bed. Earbuds and noise machines mostly change what you hear rather than how much reaches you, and the 2026 Penn study is a good reason to keep any pink noise at a modest volume.
For most people, the practical answer is a mix of cheap fixes to the room and a comfortable earplug that sits flat on the pillow. If you have never tried soft silicone, Life+ comes with our 40-day money-back guarantee, so you have a few weeks of nights to find out whether quieter is enough.
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His connection to hearing protection stems from personal experience with sound sensitivity during live events and work in noisy environments, an issue that made him more aware of the long-term risks of unmanaged noise exposure. Today, as both a communicator and a user of BOLLSEN products, he is passionate about raising awareness around the importance of proactive hearing care.
At BOLLSEN, he develops data-driven marketing campaigns, writes SEO-focused articles, and manages communication channels that connect customers with practical knowledge about hearing protection. His work ensures that BOLLSEN’s message—prioritizing health, performance, and sustainability reaches a global audience in an engaging and trustworthy way.
Passionate about writing since childhood, Timotej combines creativity with a strong analytical approach, continuously testing new ideas in digital marketing, performance advertising, and social media. He believes in learning through innovation and collaboration, balancing leadership with openness to new perspectives.
Beyond his professional role, Timotej is committed to a healthy lifestyle and finds inspiration in fitness, sports, and quality time with friends. His personal passion for well-being aligns with BOLLSEN’s core values, making his work not only a career but also a cause he deeply believes in.