If you sleep with a snoring partner you know how ineffective foam and silicone earplugs really are.  They do little to block the snoring.  They may be nominally more effective at blocking other noises like noisy neighbours, noisy downtown environments or if you are travelling but they are very disappointing the first time someone is struggling to find peace and quiet while they sleep.

So what do you do?  Some try to sleep with headphones and listen to music but that can be painful 2 ways; 1 they don’t sit flat in your ear so they put pressure on your ear canal when you sleep on your side; 2 loud music with long exposure hurt your ears and you may wait with a headache, sore ears and maybe even ringing in your ears.  You could also be causing hearing loss with long exposure to loud music.

So what are your other options to find quiet sleep?  Below are some revolutionary new options you can consider plus their pros and cons:

Bose Noise-Masking Sleepbuds

Average Price $340

These sleep earbuds are designed to fit comfortably in your ear so you can side-sleep without any pain.  They are advertised as “Cover unwanted noise with soothing sounds” which means they play preset sounds like waterfalls, waves, white noise, campfire, rain and more. Fully rechargeable they can be charged while you are awake and ready for when you sleep again.  An app helps you control which sound effect to fall asleep to. They also come with 3 different sizes of silicone ear tips which ensure a good fit for all ear sizes.

Pros – They fit the ear well and provide relaxing sound to help soothe the body and brain.  They are good for those who like to fall asleep to soothing sounds or their brain has difficulting shutting off and soothing sounds can help.

Cons – They sadly have a few key cons such as they don’t offer any noise cancelling functionality at all so louder noise may not be blocked by their sounds.  They can’t stream music if you don’t like their preset options you can’t choose to listen to something you choose.  They are quite costly considering they don’t offer either of those functions.

QuietOn Sleep Earplugs

Estimated Price: $329

Being marketed as the “Marriage Saver” they use active noise cancelling technology to block out all levels of sound.  They don’t stream music, they use sound to mask noise, they simply and effectively block all sound.  They also offer a convenient button on the side that turns the function off so you can enable hearing or holding a conversation without taking them out.  Like the Bose Sleepbuds they are rechargeable and can charge the batteries while you are awake and be ready for when you sleep and they also insert flat and streamlined to your ear so you can comfortably sleep and side sleep with them in.

Pros – The effectively block all noise with active noise cancelling technology.  They also offer a variety of foam and silicone ear tips so you have a choice as to which you find more comfortable.

Cons – They aren’t out yet! They have been delayed to market, the latest news was to move the button that allows sound through to have a conversation.

Yes, that is the whole selection and we’re listing one product that is yet to be made available to the public.   This market segment is sadly very under-represented with the technology that exists which is why when QuietOn’s sleep earplugs are available they will dominate the industry and perhaps then others with noise cancelling technology (cough, cough Alango, Bose, Sony) might create competing products.