I tested sleep earbuds for over a month: Here are the 3 best pairs

Getting proper sleep can help improve nearly every aspect of your health, but over a third of adults in the United States don’t get enough of it, according to the CDC.

If a noisy environment is what’s keeping you up at night, you’ve likely considered foam earplugs, but those are no longer the only option available on the market — reusable earplugs and sleep earbuds offer a more convenient alternative.

I spent the past month and a half trying out earplugs and earbuds ranging from $50 to $300 to find the best of what’s out on the market — and to see if getting earbuds just for sleep is actually worth it.

How are sleep earbuds different than normal earbuds?

First, a confession: I used to wear AirPods nearly every night to sleep. More accurately, I used to wear a single AirPod so I could actually sleep on my side.

After testing earbuds designed for sleeping, I can tell you that everyday earbuds don’t match up to the sleep earbud experience. For starters, standard earbuds aren’t designed to be worn while you’re lying on your side, so they often stick out of your ears and put hard plastic in contact with your ear. Not to mention, earbuds typically cap out at six to seven hours of battery life per charge, so if you’re getting at least eight hours of sleep, you run the risk of interrupting it with the sound of your earbuds powering off.

Sleep earbuds, like the Soundcore A20 ones pictured in the middle, have a much thinner profile than traditional earbuds.
Credit: Bethany Allard / Mashable

Sleep earbuds, on the other hand, can offer white noise options, better battery life, and significantly more comfort (that actually allows you to wear more than one earbud at a time). The pairs I tested came without microphones and with touch controls that worked but were less sensitive than traditional earbuds, so you can lie on your side without activating them. There aren’t really any options for active noise cancellation, but you’d be surprised at how well passive noise cancellation and a good fit can do for most nighttime noises.

Is it safe to wear earbuds to sleep every night?

First and foremost, it’s important to consider that sleep earbuds aren’t the only way to approach nighttime noises that might be keeping you up.

I consulted Dr. Ashely Kita, an otolaryngologist and assistant professor in the Department of Head and Neck Surgery at UCLA, to discuss any risks associated with wearing earbuds all night. While she didn’t warn against using earbuds, she suggested that if what’s keeping you up is a partner’s snoring, you start looking for solutions there.

“If you’re doing all of this to avoid a partner who is snoring, sometimes gently encouraging that person to investigate why they’re snoring is kind of an important consideration,” Kita said. “Because we find that obstructive sleep apnea is really underdiagnosed, and snoring, for some people, is the only sign of it.”

If, however, what’s keeping you up is less in your control, then you do want to be aware of three main aspects of using earbuds all night: proper hygiene, safe noise levels, and your ear comfort.

Proper hygiene

When I started testing these earbuds, I realized I was now wearing earbuds uninterrupted for longer than I typically would in the course of a day, even as someone who tests headphones for a living. When I asked Dr. Kita how that wear time might raise someone’s risk for infection, she drew a comparison to the wear time of hearing aids:

“Many individuals wear hearing aids for longer hours during the day than they sleep at night,” she said. And yet, folks who wear hearing aids don’t often have ear infections, though long wear times may increase their risk.

With the long wear times, Kita said the main concern she could anticipate was wax buildup since the natural path for wax to exit the ear canal would be blocked. However, she said it’s not necessarily a cause for concern, as wax can typically exit the ear canal at other points during the day when you’re not wearing earbuds (or blocking your ear canal in any other way).

As for any heightened infection risk, Kita shared that it can increase when there’s greater wax buildup that can then trap bacteria. She recommended cleaning the buds with isopropyl alcohol and a cotton pad after each use, if possible. (The brand behind one of our picks below, Ozlo, recommends a weekly cleaning). With all that said, someone’s risk for infection really comes down to personal susceptibility — some people are more prone to ear infections than others. If you fall into that category, being more proactive about cleaning your earbuds is a good practice.

Noise levels

Noise-induced hearing loss is the second most common type of hearing loss (behind age-related hearing loss), so it’s important to be aware of the level of noise you expose yourself to. Kita pointed me in the direction of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s (OSHA) chart for how long people can be exposed to certain decibel levels safely.

In its FAQ, Ozlo also cites OSHA’s recommendation, as well as the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health’s recommendations, which top out at 90 decibels and 85 decibels for eight hours, respectively. With that in mind, Ozlo designed its earbuds so that their masking white noise tops out at 75 dB. We reached out to a rep from Soundcore to see if its earbuds have specific upper decibel limits, and will update this guide when we hear back. In general though, Kita said the less noise, the better, recommending that you always try to use the lowest volume possible.

“While I don’t necessarily love the idea of extra noise when you’re not even conscious to appreciate it, if it’s the thing that’s keeping you asleep or letting you sleep, it just comes in this category of risks and benefits,” Kita said. “Just make sure that it’s quiet enough, then it really isn’t that much different than using a white noise machine on your nightstand.”

Comfort

Earbuds fitting comfortably is important for you to be able to fall asleep, but also for your ear health.

“Everyone’s ear canal is shaped differently,” Kita said. “And so something that might be really comfortable for your ears might really cause my ears to ache.”

In other words, giving yourself earbuds-induced earaches every night can actually impact your ear health. If one of the below recommendations really isn’t sitting right, even with adjustments to the ear tip sizes, don’t be afraid to return them.

The best earbuds for sleeping

Below, I pulled three of the best sleep earbuds on the market. Between the overall, upgrade, and earplug picks, there’s a wide range of price points, but as with any product, the most expensive of the bunch isn’t necessarily the best overall. With that in mind, I highlighted where each earbud excelled, whether that be in comfort, noise cancellation, or ease of use, to help you pick the best sleep earbud possible.