Earplugs Better Than Pink Noise in Countering Nighttime Noise

MONDAY, Feb. 9, 2026 (HealthDay News) — Earplugs are more effective than pink noise in mitigating the effects of nighttime environmental noise (EN) on sleep, according to a study published online Feb. 2 in SLEEP.

Mathias Basner, M.D., Ph.D., from the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, and colleagues investigated the efficacy of pink noise (PN) and earplugs for mitigating the effects of intermittent EN on sleep. The analysis included 25 healthy adults (mean age, 28.5 years) who participated in a seven-night polysomnographic laboratory study with exposure to different noise conditions, including exposure to EN (93 events; maximum sound pressure level 45 to 65 dBA), PN (40 or 50 dBA), earplugs, and their combination.

The researchers found that compared with a noise-free control night, EN reduced N3 deep sleep. PN reduced rapid eye movement (REM) sleep. Sleep structure was worsened by adding PN to EN, despite minor dose-dependent improvements of EN-induced sleep fragmentation and N3 sleep increases. Nearly all EN effects on sleep were mitigated by earplugs, but earplugs started failing at the highest EN level (65 dBA). Nighttime noise did not affect morning cognition, cardiovascular measures, or hearing, but subjective assessments of sleep, alertness, and mood were significantly worse following EN and PN exposure.

“Our findings suggest that playing pink noise and other types of broadband noise during sleep could be harmful — especially for children whose brains are still developing and who spend much more time in REM sleep than adults,” Basner said in a statement.

Abstract/Full Text