sleeping with ear plugs?

[rodge]

your breathing and other internal noises are going to be louder, and will probly disturb you more than an ac, but i dont think it's unhealthy

[stevep]

It hasn't hurt me,....

It keeps out those Leaf Blowers Arggggg!


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[Jules]

I found cutting those yellow things in half fit better in my ears and stopped them from sticking out & rubbing against the pillow noisily .. Obviously be careful .. try at your own risk etc..

[nandoanalog]

I sleep with ear plugs sometimes.... Not the most confortable thing in the world. But it`s better than loud noises...

[Wiggy Neve Slut]

I used to sleep with them all the time... best sleep going with no ambient noises!

Wiggy

[bcgood]

I might need to start doing this. I like the half size idea to minimize the pillow friction ratio.

I have a fountain and a fan to create some background noise but the neighbors let their stupid poodle out at 6 am this morning and it loves to hear itself bark, (Small dog complex). Me no likey!tutt

bcgood

[nandoanalog]

Originally Posted by bcgood

I have a fountain and a fan to create some background noise but the neighbors let their stupid poodle out at 6 am this morning and it loves to hear itself bark, (Small dog complex). Me no likey!tutt

My cousin`s neighbours (the wife) used to do that also. He got a laser sight on his .22 revolver, and shoted the dog in the head. Dog barks no more. Neighbours look at dead dog, look back at my cousin with gun on his hand and sleepy eyes. Wife looks disturbed. Husband looks happy.

Not a word was said. He sleeps well since then.

[Watersound]

I have slept with them for many years...so much so that I can't sleep without them. Never had any problems, they work great especially on an airplane.

[dewey decibel]

It's funny, I actually like to sleep with the AC on. Even when it's cold I keep a fan on near my bed- I've found that I tune into the white noise and tune out all the other noises which would wake me up.

Tried the ear plugs once- it just felt too unnatural for me. It's something I'm sure I could get used to, but decided I didn't want to get used to it.

[nandoanalog]

Originally Posted by dewey decibel

It's funny, I actually like to sleep with the AC on. Even when it's cold I keep a fan on near my bed- I've found that I tune into the white noise and tune out all the other noises which would wake me up.

Tried the ear plugs once- it just felt too unnatural for me. It's something I'm sure I could get used to, but decided I didn't want to get used to it.

I must admit something that I used to do... And it is very weird...

I have a ceiling fan in my bedroom... I used to have an air humidifier/dehumidifier in my bedroom also.... And I slept the 2 last winters with a hair drier in my bedroom.

Imagine a ceiling fan, an air humidifier, and a freakin hair drier turned on 24/7. And the hair drier was always next to my head!

I swear that`s how I slept during the last 2 winters. Several hair driers burned out, the humidifier doesn`t work anymore. The ceiling fan is still working tho....

Thanks to all that noise for so many hours (months), now I have tinnitus....

But it was kinda cool not having to hear my grandfather hitting stuff with the largest hammer he has...

Now I use a 30 db air conditioner.... I like sleeping with my room fairly cold..

[AvS]

Ive slept with earplugs for the last 4-5 years every single night. No problems except that Ive become addicted. Ive become so sensitive to sounds so its impossible for me to sleep without them.

[grexter]

that's a bit of a weird thread.... but then again, i'm a bit of a weird guy...

I've been sleeping with earplugs pretty much every single night for the past 10-15 years - in fact ever since I experienced living in a student residence at university. No problems except for 2 little ones:

1) what happened in my case about a year ago is that my left year had accumulated some ear wax (which i assume could have happened because of the tiny quantities of ear wax that had been pushed inside the ear by the ear plugs...) and that had an impact on my hearing. if that ever happens though, all u gotta do is go to the doctor and have him clean your ear. takes about a minute; its painless - he basically sprays some warm water into it and washes it away.

2) its true, you do get "addicted" to it, i.e. i cant sleep without them now because I tend to hear all the slightest noises...

ps: gotta watch it though, if you get so addicted to the noiseless environment ear plugs can provide that you actually try to plug them in every time your girlfriend "needs to talk", then you might run into a whole other set of problems...

greg

[kenevill]

Originally Posted by nandoanalog

a freakin hair drier turned on 24/7. And the hair drier was always next to my head!

what was going through your mind when you decided to sleep with a hairdryer next to your head?

[Clive Banks]

i always sleep with earplugs and that is one of the reasons why. Any slight sound I will hear it really stops me from getting a good rest in between all the sessions I have to run all day.

2) its true, you do get "addicted" to it, i.e. i cant sleep without them now because I tend to hear all the slightest noises...

[Acko]

I wore them once while sleeping and awoke in a panic having dreamed i was deaf.

[tarnationsauce]

I have tried this before and I woke up with a lot of pain in my ears. I think the foam was pushing too hard on the walls of my ears.
If I try again it will be with softer, or custom molded ear plugs.

[Verbow]

Another addict here - once you do it for a while you can't sleep without them...

[nandoanalog]

Originally Posted by kenevill

what was going through your mind when you decided to sleep with a hairdryer next to your head?

Well.... It was good to keep the bed warm ...

I think I kept it next to my head because it was louder there....

[markus enochson]

Originally Posted by nandoanalog

I must admit something that I used to do... And it is very weird...

I have a ceiling fan in my bedroom... I used to have an air humidifier/dehumidifier in my bedroom also.... And I slept the 2 last winters with a hair drier in my bedroom.

Imagine a ceiling fan, an air humidifier, and a freakin hair drier turned on 24/7. And the hair drier was always next to my head!

I swear that`s how I slept during the last 2 winters. Several hair driers burned out, the humidifier doesn`t work anymore. The ceiling fan is still working tho....

Thanks to all that noise for so many hours (months), now I have tinnitus....

But it was kinda cool not having to hear my grandfather hitting stuff with the largest hammer he has...

Now I use a 30 db air conditioner.... I like sleeping with my room fairly cold..

probably the strangest sleeping habits i ever heard of... but what ever works for u...

m

[rainsinvelvet]

I'm a light sleeper here. Living in the city has made it hard. especially with neighbors kind of close to my bedroom window. I hate hearing them come in late at night after drinking or the early morning lawn mower ( god, I've had 4 different gardeners on my block working at one time!).

Anyhow, I keep a small window air unit going when I sleep and a ceiling fan to help move the air around. The droning of the AC unit help give me the white noise to help cut down on most of the loud outside noises.

Now, having a 10 month old to wake you up at 6 am is a whole different thing.

ERic

[WTMNMF]

I like the silicone putty plugs. More comfortable and better attenuation.thumbsup

[nandoanalog]

Silicone plugs are kinda dangerous... Sometimes they break and get "glued" to your ear drum. The doctor said it hurts to get them out.

[maq]

Another long time user here.
My family (wife and 9 year old son) and I have diametrically opposed schedules. I usually wrap up things in the studio around 4am and they're getting up at 6am for school.
Who would have thought years of IEM use on stage would prepare me for a good night's sleep

[theblue1]

ACs and fans can be REALLY damaging to your hearing for reasons I'm not sure I quite grip -- but which are painfull obvious to me when I use one for an extended period of time.

Back in my old place where I had a sound-isolated room and was dependent on AC about 2-3 months out of the year during afternoons and evenings, I found that it would take me literally weeks to recover some sense of normality in my hearing.

And even now, when I can get away with with just slapping a fan in a window for a few hours at the peak of a hot spell -- even after only a few hours -- I can feel the fatigue in my ears...

(I guess off the top of my head, it's just "earstrain" from trying to listen around and through the wide-spectrum noise created by the fan. Whatever, it hurts.)



However -- if you DO end up using plugs on an ongoing basis, watch out for ear infection/draining issues... your ears need to "breath," too...

[dj_who]

thanks for all the great replies!

i put them in and i slept really well. i cut them in half like jules said and it worked great. i do like white noise when i sleep but my AC is just too noisy. it is old and a little run down. i do feel ear fatigue just by being in my bedroom. maybe i need to invest in a new AC.

i also think that ears need to breath but hey, i'll just use lots of q tips and stay on top of it.

i even missed a couple of calls on my cellphone, i didn't hear that either. thumbsup

now i need to get a vibrating alarm clock.

[Brendan]

Originally Posted by theblue1

However -- if you DO end up using plugs on an ongoing basis, watch out for ear infection/draining issues... your ears need to "breath," too...

I'd be interested in hearing a doctor's opinion on this.

I slept with foam earplugs for a long time and dealt with the issue of not being able to get to sleep without them. I sometimes wondered if there might be anything harmful about plugging my ears for long periods of time on a regular basis.

It's pretty quiet where I live now so I haven't used earplugs while sleeping for years.

This is a wacky thread though. It brings me back to college when it was impossible to sleep without earplugs. It seemed like the only option at the time.

[CommunityMart]

Originally Posted by Brendan

I'd be interested in hearing a doctor's opinion on this.

Is there a doctor in the house?

[Daniel Antix]

i used ot sleep with pro ear plugs in (moulded to my ears) after a big weekend and i had a band rehearsing in the next room... wasn't too comfortable but besides that it was fine, it's more comfortable if you sleep with one in and put the ear with none in on the pillow.

[midnightsun]

Originally Posted by CommunityMart

Is there a doctor in the house?

Common sense will answer the question. In this day and age a physician will NEVER tell a person that anything is totally safe.... Statements like that make lawyers salivate. Case in point-- physician recommends an antihistamine for cold symptoms, patient takes them in conjunction with a pint of whiskey, drives a car, causes accident, and the physician is successfully sued. I'm a physician and have never heard of a study testing the hearing of ear plug sleepers. I would not recommend molten lead ear plugs, radio active ear plugs, or bondo glue ear plugs. Common sense and all things in moderation. The only danger that I can think of is if something gets stuck in there and your sleeping partner uses a coat hanger to try to dig it out. Seriously, if the ear plug gets stuck or lost up in the ear canal just go to a doctor who can easily remove it under direct visualization with an otoscope (ear looker).