Which earplugs are best for sleeping?

There are four materials in this category and they behave completely differently.

Most people try whichever was in the supermarket, decide earplugs are not for them, and never find out that the material was the problem. Here is what each one is actually good at.

Foam

Good at: blocking a lot of sound, cheaply. Foam has the highest ratings in the category and it earns them.

Bad at: staying put, and staying comfortable. It works by expanding against the canal wall, which means constant outward pressure for however long you wear it. That is fine for an hour on a building site and it is the reason foam aches by morning.

It is also single-use in practice. Foam absorbs, and a foam plug used for a week is not a clean thing to put in your ear.

Suits: occasional use, travel, one loud night. Not eight hours, every night.

Wax and silicone putty

Good at: conforming exactly to your ear. Putty moulds to the shape you have rather than an average.

Bad at: everything else about sleeping. It gets in hair, it softens with body heat and spreads, and it leaves residue. Anyone with long hair discovers this once.

Suits: swimming, and people who have tried everything else.

Moulded and custom

Good at: fit, obviously. A plug cast from your own ear fits your own ear.

Bad at: cost and commitment. It is expensive, it takes an appointment, and if the fit is wrong you cannot exchange it for a size.

Suits: people who already know earplugs work for them and want the best version.

Soft silicone

Good at: sealing by shape rather than by pressure, and doing it repeatedly. Silicone does not expand, so it is not pushing outward all night. It is washable, so it lasts months rather than a week.

Bad at: raw blocking figures. A silicone plug that seals by shape will not out-measure foam in a laboratory, and any brand claiming otherwise is being creative with which standard they quote.

Suits: nightly use, side sleeping, anyone who has abandoned foam.

The question nobody asks, and should

Everyone compares blocking power. Almost nobody compares whether the thing is still in your ear at 4am, which is the only comparison that matters for sleep.

A plug that blocks a lot of sound and works its way out at two in the morning blocks nothing for the rest of the night

A plug that blocks less and stays put blocks more, in total, than the one that did not.

So which one

• Occasional and loudFoam. It is cheap and it works for short stretches.
• Every night, on your sideSoft silicone, in the right size.
• You already know earplugs suit you and want the bestCustom moulded.
• You have tried everythingPutty, and accept the mess.

We make one of these four, so read that as the bias it is. What we would say regardless is that the material matters more than the number on the packet, and that most people who think earplugs do not work for them have simply never tried the right one.

Thirty nights to decide, and used returns are fine.