Best Sleep Earplugs: Try, Test and Worth Checking on Golden Date

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said getting proper sleep can help improve all aspects of health, but more than one-third of the U.S. adults do not have enough adults.

If noisy environments make you wake up at night, you might consider using foam earbuds, but these are no longer the only options available on the market – reusable earbuds and sleeping earbuds offer a more convenient option.

I spent a month and a half trying earbuds and earbuds, ranging from $50 to $349 to find the best things on the market – to see if it’s worth it to get earbuds just for sleep.

Note: With the price of Ozlo Sleepbuds rising to $349, we can’t recommend them at full price. But as Amazon Prime Day approaches, we want to see them drop to at least $299 in its initial price. If they don’t, it’s hard to justify its value, especially in the announcement of the Anker Soundcore Sleep A30 earbuds, which will cancel active noise at $229 when they are released in August.

How are sleep earplugs different from normal earplugs?

First, confession: I wear Airpods almost every night to sleep. More precisely, I used to wear an Airpod so I could really sleep with me.

After testing the earbuds for sleeping, I can tell you that the daily earbuds don’t match the experience of sleeping earbuds. For beginners, standard earplugs are not designed when lying next to them, so they usually stick out the ears and bring the hard plastic into the ears. Not to mention, earbuds are usually limited by six to seven hours of battery life per charge, so if you sleep for at least eight hours, there is a risk of interrupting it with the sound from the motor.

Sleep earbuds, on the other hand, offer white noise options, better battery life, and significantly more comfortable (in fact, you can wear multiple earbuds at a time). The ones I tested weren’t mics and the touch controls worked but weren’t as sensitive as traditional earbuds, so you could lie next to you without activate them. There are actually no options for active noise reduction, but for most night noises, the ability to passively eliminate noise and good results can surprise you.

Is it safe to wear earplugs to sleep every night?

First, it is important to consider that sleep earplugs are not the only way that night noises may cheer you up.

I consulted Dr. Ashley Kita, an otolaryngologist at UCLA and an assistant professor in the Department of Neck Surgery, to discuss any risks of wearing earplugs throughout the night. While she didn’t warn against using earplugs, she advised that if you were to cheer you up as a partner’s hit, you would start looking for solutions there.

“If you are doing all these things to avoid snoring with a partner, sometimes gently encourage the person to investigate why snoring is an important consideration,” Kita said. “Because we found that obstructive sleep apnea is really not diagnosed, and for some people, snoring is the only sign.”

But if it’s what’s out of your control, you do want to understand three main aspects of using earbuds all night: proper hygiene, safe noise levels, and ear comfort.

Proper hygiene

When I started testing these earbuds, I realized that I’m wearing them for a longer time now, even during the course of a day, even for someone who tests the earbuds for a living. When I asked Dr. Kita that wear time might increase someone’s risk of infection, she compared it with the wear time of hearing aids:

“During the day, many people wear hearing aids longer during the day than at night,” she said. However, people wearing hearing aids do not often suffer from ear infections, although long-term wear and tear may increase the risk.

Kita says that with prolonged wear time, the main problem she can expect is the accumulation of wax, as the natural path that the wax will exit the ear canal will be blocked. But, she said, this is not necessarily a reason for the attention, as wax can usually exit the ear canal at other points during the day without wearing ear plugs (or blocking the ear canal in any other way).

As for any enhanced risk of infection, Kita shared that it increases when the wax builds up larger when bacteria can be captured. She recommends cleaning the buds with isopropanol and a cotton pad after each use. (Ozlo below the brand behind one of our draft picks is recommended for weekly cleaning). All That Say, the risk of an infection does depend on individual susceptibility – some people are more susceptible to ear infections than others. If you fall into this category, cleaning your earplugs more aggressively is a good habit.

Noise level

Noise-induced hearing loss is the second most common type of hearing loss (second only to age-related hearing loss), so it is important to pay attention to the level of noise you are exposed. Kita pointed me to the direction of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) chart to safely reach some decibel levels.

Ozlo also cites Osha’s recommendations in the FAQ, as well as the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health recommendations, which are as high as 90 decibels in eight hours in 90 decibels and 85 decibels, respectively. With this in mind, Ozlo designed the earbuds to make them mask white noise above 75 dB. We approached SoundCore’s representatives to see if their earplugs have specific upper decibel limits and will update this guide when echoing. Overall, though, the less noise Kita says, it is recommended that you always try the lowest volume possible.

“While I don’t necessarily like the idea of ​​extra noise when you don’t even realize you appreciate it, if it’s something that puts you to sleep or puts you to sleep, it’s just that risk and welfare category,” Kita said. “Just make sure it’s quiet enough, it’s not that different from using a white noise machine on a bedside table.”

Comfortable

Comfortably installing earplugs is important for you to fall asleep, but it is also important for your ear health.

“Everyone’s ear canals are different in shape,” Geeta said. “So, something that might be really comfortable for your ears does cause my ear pain.”

In other words, the ear pills caused by giving yourself earplugs every night can actually affect your ear health. If the following advice does not sit, don’t be afraid to return them even if the ear tip size has been adjusted.

The best earplugs to sleep

Below, I pulled three of the best sleep earbuds on the market. The price range is wide between overall, upgrades and earbud picking, but like any product, the most expensive product is not necessarily the best overall. With that in mind, I highlighted that each earbud is in an excellent location for comfort, noise removal or ease of use to help you choose the best sleeping earbuds.

Updated: July 5, 2025, 6:00 As of April 2024, the price of Ozlo Sleepbuds rose to $349 due to tariffs, from $299 on the Ozlo website and Amazon in the United States. We no longer recommend them at full price, but if you capture them at least at their original price, it is recommended that you catch them.

Test update

We are currently testing the Soundcore Sleep A30 earbuds, which will be released to the public in August. We also updated our recommendations to Ozlo Sleepbuds after the price increase in April – we only recommend them for sale.