The Best Earplugs for Concerts, Bedtime, and Anytime

You only get one pair of ears, so it’s a good idea to look after them—and a good set of earplugs can come in handy in all kinds of situations. A proper set is a much better solution for blocking out noise during the night than a pillow over the head and is more comfortable than headphones. What you’re looking for in earplugs really depends on what you want them to do. When you’re sleeping, for example, comfort is paramount. Plus, you need an indiscriminate approach to blocking out snores, traffic noise, or a car alarm down the street.

If you’re watching a band play live, though, you want to maintain as much fidelity as possible and just cut out the frequencies that might be harmful to your hearing. The average concert pumps out about 100 decibels, but if you’ve ever seen My Bloody Valentine you’ll know some bands seem to have a personal vendetta against your ears—and continuous exposure to sounds over 85 dB can cause permanent damage to your hearing. That means it’s not possible to pick out one pair of earplugs that’ll work in every situation. Instead, we’ve picked several that satisfy different needs.

Our current top picks, the Loop Quiet and Earpeace Pro, are both excellent passive pairs of earplugs with slightly different purposes. The Loop Quiet are great for sleep, because they aim to entirely block out the outside world, while the Earpeace Pro are designed to evenly lower the sound of the world around you for when you’re in loud environments but still want to hear.

Be sure to check out our other buying guides, like the Best Sleep Gadgets, Best Wireless Earbuds, Best Wireless Headphones, and Gifts for People Who Need a Good Night’s Sleep.

Updated April 2025: We added the GOB mycelium earplugs, Ozlo Sleepbuds, Soundcore by Anker A20, QuietOn 4, and Apple AirPods Pro.

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