White Noise Machines vs. Earplugs for Sleep: What the Research Shows

A snoring partner, a neighbor’s dog, early garbage trucks: noise is a common reason women wake at night, and lighter sleep in midlife can make it worse. Sound machines and apps that play white, pink or brown noise are a popular fix. Here is what the research shows, and how they compare with plain foam earplugs.

The evidence for noise machines is weak

A 2021 systematic review looked at 38 studies of continuous white noise or similar sound for sleep. The studies were very different from one another, and the results ranged from noise improving sleep to noise disrupting it. The reviewers rated the quality of evidence that continuous noise improves sleep as very low, despite how widely it’s used, and noted it might also affect sleep and hearing.¹

A head-to-head sleep-lab test

A 2026 study brought 25 healthy adults, average age about 28, into a sleep lab for seven nights. They were exposed to recorded traffic, aircraft and other noises, with or without pink noise playing (at 40 or 50 decibels), foam earplugs, or both.²

• Pink noise alone reduced REM sleep, the dreaming stage, compared with a quiet night.²
• Pink noise plus outside noise worsened overall sleep structure, even though it slightly reduced some noise-related awakenings.²
• Earplugs blocked nearly all the effects of outside noise, though they started to fail at the loudest level tested.²

A companion analysis concluded that earplugs worked better than pink noise for reducing noise-related sleep disruption.³ These were young adults in a lab, so results may differ for older women at home.

Choosing what to try

Earplugs

• Inexpensive and, in this study, the more effective option.³
• Try a few sizes and materials for comfort.
• Make sure you can still hear a smoke alarm or a family member who may need you. A crying baby and a fire alarm were among the sounds most likely to wake people in the study.³

Sound machines or apps

• If you like one and sleep better, there’s no need to give it up. But keep the volume low, and consider a timer so it doesn’t run all night.
• Place it away from your head rather than on the pillow.

When noise isn’t the main problem

If you’re waking often for reasons other than noise, such as hot flashes, needing to pee, pain or loud snoring of your own, a sound machine won’t fix it. Our guides to waking at night and insomnia and CBT-I can help you sort out the cause.

Try: “I wake several times a night, and noise is only part of it. What else should we look at, and is there anything wrong with using earplugs every night?”

Did I Do That in My Sleep²? includes a 14-Night Lights-Out Record and a Visit Brief. Use them to note what woke you each night and what you tried, so your clinician can see the pattern. See the book.