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Listening at home⏱️ Estimated reading time: 13 min
On this page: Overview
Key Takeaways
They lower background noise for a focus block. With a passive SNR 24 earplug, chatter two tables away and a housemate’s music get noticeably quieter, not silent.
Only if your school or college agrees it in advance. JCQ lists non-electronic ear plugs as an arrangement the SENCo decides on, with no exam board application. Ask your SENCo or exams officer early, and check with your centre.
The JCQ arrangement covers non-electronic ear plugs and ear defenders, not earbuds. Listening to music or white noise is a separate arrangement that needs an application. Life+ is passive, with no battery or electronics.
Yes. A fire alarm or a staff announcement stays audible because it is loud. Voices get quieter too, by about 21 dB in the speech range, so take one out to talk.
Wear them for one focus block of roughly 25 to 50 minutes, then take them out for the break. The NHS advises against wearing earplugs all the time, because it could make you more sensitive to noise.
One pair of Life+ costs £29.95 and lasts up to 100 uses, about 30p per use, which covers a 12-week term of weekday sessions. The Life+ 10x Pack works out at about 11p per use.
Most students searching for earplugs for studying are not in a loud place. They are in a library that is quiet on paper, or at a desk at home where a housemate’s call or the television next door keeps pulling them out of the page. As one learner wrote on a FutureLearn course forum, “even the quiet reading rooms in the library get loud during essay/exam time”.
At Bollsen, we make reusable silicone earplugs that are German-tested, independently certified 24 dB and trusted by 1,000,000+ people. Our guide to earplugs for noise sensitivity covers everyday sound feeling too loud in general. This page is for students and home-revisers: focus blocks, library etiquette, UK exam rules and what a pair costs per term.
Why is background chatter the hardest noise to study through?
Background speech is harder to read through than steady noise because the brain keeps processing words it is not trying to listen to, and a 2018 meta-analysis of 65 studies found that noise, speech and music all have a small but reliable negative effect on reading, with intelligible speech and music with lyrics the most distracting. That review, by Vasilev, Kirkby and Angele in Perspectives on Psychological Science, found adults and children were affected in a similar way. The idea is older still. In 1982, Salamé and Baddeley showed that unattended speech disrupts short-term memory for written items, now known as the irrelevant speech effect.
These studies describe what background noise does to reading, not what an earplug does. If it seems to bother some people more than others, our explainer on why everyday sound can feel louder than it should looks at why. Specific sounds such as chewing or pen clicking are a different case, covered in our guide to studying when specific sounds are the problem.
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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 reviewsWhat do earplugs change at a library desk, and what don’t they?
A passive earplug such as Life+, rated SNR 24 dB (H 24 / M 21 / L 19), seals the ear canal and lowers everything that reaches it, so a conversation two tables away gets noticeably quieter but not silent. You still hear everything going on around you, only at a lower level. The effect is the same at a shared kitchen table as in a reading room, because it depends on the seal in the ear canal, not the setting.
The reduction rises with pitch. In EN 352-2 lab testing, Life+ lowers deep and mid sounds by about 22 dB, voices around 1 kHz by 23 dB, the 2 to 4 kHz band where consonants and keyboard clatter sit by around 28 to 29 dB, and 8 kHz hiss by 35 dB. Each 10 dB cut sounds roughly half as loud. The certificate sits on our independent third-party lab testing page.
Life+ is not noise-cancelling. It has no battery or electronics and blocks part of the sound rather than removing it. Voices get quieter along with everything else, by about 21 dB in the speech range. A fire alarm or a staff announcement stays audible because it is loud, not because speech passes through.
How do you plan a focus block with earplugs?
A focus block is a fixed stretch of study, usually 25 to 50 minutes, with one task, the phone face down, the earplugs in at the start and out at the end, followed by a 5 to 10 minute break away from the desk. The timer does the deciding, so you are not negotiating with yourself every ten minutes.
We designed our Life+ passive SNR 24 dB reusable silicone earplugs (£29.95) for long wear, with a flush two-lamella fit and no stem, so they sit comfortably through a block and live in an aluminium case on a keyring. Putting them in as you sit down gives the block a clear start.
At home, the noise is usually housemates, a television or a family kitchen. Plan the longest blocks for the quietest hours and use the earplugs for the rest. Our guide to earplugs for focus blocks at home with ADHD follows the same pattern, often with shorter blocks and a movement break in between. If home study is really home working for a job, our guide to earplugs for work fits better.
Is it rude to wear earplugs in the library?
Wearing earplugs in a library is not rude, because they make no sound and ask nothing of anyone else, as long as you take one out when a friend or member of staff wants to talk and stay alert to announcements and alarms. A flush fit helps in a silent study area, since nothing stands out from the ear and nobody wonders whether you are listening to music. If someone taps your shoulder, take one earplug out rather than raising your voice. Keep the case on the desk, not loose in a bag where the plugs collect fluff.
In exam season, libraries fill up and group rooms spill into quiet zones. If a whole day on campus feels like too much, not just the library, our guide to earplugs for sensory overload looks at planning busy places, with breaks and a way out.
Are earplugs allowed in UK exams?
Earplugs are allowed in GCSE, A level and other JCQ exams only as an arrangement your school or college agrees in advance, because the JCQ rules list non-electronic ear plugs among the arrangements the centre’s SENCo decides on, rather than something any candidate can bring in. In section 5.16 of the JCQ Access Arrangements and Reasonable Adjustments 2025/26, updated March 2026, “non-electronic ear defenders/ear plugs” appear in a list that needs no online application to the exam board. The SENCo decides based on whether the candidate has “a substantial and long-term impairment which has an adverse effect” and on the candidate’s “normal way of working within the centre”.
So ask your SENCo or exams officer early in the course, not the week before. Because the decision looks at how you normally work, it helps if the arrangement is already part of lessons and mocks. Listening to music or white noise is a different arrangement, with an application and JCQ Form 9.
| Setting | Who decides | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| GCSE, A level and other JCQ exams (England, Wales, Northern Ireland) | Your school or college’s SENCo | Ask early; no exam board application for non-electronic ear plugs |
| SQA exams (Scotland) | Your centre, under SQA’s own arrangements | Check with your centre’s exams officer |
| University exams | Your university’s own rules | Ask the disability or exams team well before the exam period |
| Library and home revision | You | No permission needed; take one out to talk |
Life+ is a passive, non-electronic earplug, but whether any earplug is allowed in your exam is your centre’s decision, not ours. Parents of younger pupils may find our article on how classroom noise affects younger children more relevant.
Which earplugs suit studying: foam or reusable silicone?
For daily study, a reusable silicone earplug with moderate reduction of around 20 to 25 dB usually suits better than foam, because it goes in within seconds and washes clean, and you still notice a fire alarm or someone saying your name. Foam disposables often give more reduction, which some students like for a quiet room at home, but each pair is single use and the expanding foam can feel tight after an hour. Ring-style earplugs with a stem are easy to grab but stand out in a silent study area.
Fit, comfort over a long session and a moderate rating are what to look for in everyday earplugs, whether you study in a library reading room or a shared house. Our Life+ earplugs are made from hypoallergenic natural silicone and last up to 100 uses. If sizing is the worry, Life+ with AI ear measurement from two photos costs £44.95 and we send the size that matches your ear canal.
How much do earplugs for studying cost per term?
One pair of Life+ costs £29.95 for up to 100 uses, about 30p per use, so a single pair comfortably covers a full term of weekday study sessions. Adjust the sums below for your own timetable.
Take a 12-week term with five study sessions a week. That is 60 sessions, which leaves about 40 uses on the same pair. A 2-pack costs £44.95, one pair for the bag and one for the desk at home, and it clears the £35 minimum for free UK delivery. A single £29.95 pack does not.
For a shared house or a whole degree, the Life+ 10x Pack (≈11p per use) costs £109 for ten pairs, about 1,000 uses in total. The ten pairs come loose in one tube, without individual cases. Every order has our 40-day money-back guarantee.
How do you keep study earplugs clean?
Reusable silicone earplugs stay clean if you wash them with water and mild soap every few uses, let them dry fully, and keep them in their case between sessions, never loose on a library desk or in a coat pocket. Wash your hands before you put them in, and keep your own pair rather than sharing. Replace them when the silicone feels sticky, torn or stiff. Our guide to cleaning and storing reusable earplugs covers washing, drying and when to replace a pair.
When should the earplugs come out between study sessions?
Earplugs should come out at the end of every focus block and stay out for the break, because the NHS advises against wearing earplugs or ear muffs all the time, as this “could make you more sensitive to noise”, while short-term use may help in very noisy places. That advice is about habit, not about any one group of people, and a timed block builds the break in.
So, is it bad to wear earplugs all day? For revision, all day was never the plan. Wear them for the block, take them out for the walk to the kettle, and leave them out in a quiet room. Our article on what changes when you wear earplugs every day looks at daily use in more depth.
Our earplugs are comfort and hearing protection products, not medical devices. See a GP if everyday sounds feel painfully loud, if your hearing changed suddenly, or if there is pain or discharge.
Your first focus block this week
Pick one session this week, in the library or at home. Set a 40-minute timer, put the earplugs in as you sit down and take them out when it ends. If an exam is coming up and you want earplugs in the hall, speak to your SENCo or exams officer now.
Studying is one part of the day. For the rest of it, from the commute to a busy evening, our wider guide to everyday comfort when sound feels too loud follows the same idea, in for the loud bits and out for the quiet ones.
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.