Getting a good night's sleep is essential for your physical and mental health.
And unfortunately, most of us have at least some trouble getting to or staying asleep on a regular basis.
Try some sleep aids, designed to fit more comfortably in your ears than traditional ones, block or cancel noise, and provide specialized meditation content instead of (or in addition to) listening to your favorite songs.
We tested four popular pairs, and while we recognize that fit and comfort can be subjective, depending on the size of your ears and what type of sleeper you are (on your side, on your stomach, or up), we found a great pair that, based on our experience, , will help a wide range of people to rest better.
Best Overall Sleep Headphones: Bose Sleepbuds II
$249 at Bose
The Bose Sleepbuds II are the best sleep headphones we tested.
Not only are they the most comfortable, but even without the company's beloved noise-canceling feature, they also gave us the most reliable seal, keeping out outside noise like traffic and our biggest nighttime problem: our partner's snoring.
Additionally, 50 different sound and white noise options are available via the easy-to-use companion app to further mask any unease, but sadly, the Sleepbuds II won't play any other music or personal audio;
they are strictly intended for rest.
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The small, soft earbuds fit comfortably in our ears;
in fact, we haven't used any other headset that has come close to being as comfortable in any situation.
Wing-style stabilizers help keep the Sleepbuds II in place, and we've only lost an earbud in bed once, losing it so much that we searched for it frantically until we tucked it under a pillow in the morning (Bose doesn't sell individual replacements, stating that the devices are "matched during the manufacturing process" so you'll want to be careful).
Bose Sleepbuds II not only don't cancel noise, they don't play music or any other content.
They only work with the Bose Sleep app.
To set it up, use the app to connect your Sleepbuds II to your phone via Bluetooth, then choose from a range of 50 relaxing sounds, grouped into categories like Noise Masking, Natural Scenery, and Relaxation.
Just click the "Add to Sleepbuds" button and load your choice directly into the earbuds, and you can activate a phone-free mode and use them without a device nearby (although you can't change sounds or use the wake-up alarm mode). Sleepbuds II this way).
We appreciate this because we don't keep our phone in the bedroom overnight for better sleep hygiene,
While we found some of the nature-oriented audio clips too active and distracting for our liking, "Swell," a white noise-like loop of waves, did the trick.
We set it to play for 1.5 hours each night, which effectively masks external sounds (including snoring) and allows us to sleep through the night.
A round charging case with a sliding cover connects via USB-C;
Bose says battery life is around 10 hours on a single charge, but the charging case adds an additional three charges.
In our tests, we never ran out of battery, but we appreciated the overtime insurance in case we ever forget to plug it in or leave the charger at home during a short trip.
But most importantly, the Bose Sleepbuds II changed the way we sleep.
I am no longer bothered by snoring, and have been able to go back to sleep more often and for a longer period of time, including on weekend mornings when a ravenous child or cat may wake us up earlier than we'd like.
And for us, that kind of peace of mind is worth the price.
How we test
We understand that anything that helps us sleep is subjective, and if you live in a city or anywhere with a lot of outside noise, sleep next to a partner who snores or breathe heavily, or have a health issue, you may need more help. What others.
To find the best pair of headphones for sleeping, we compared four different pairs to see if they would help induce better sleep.
While any headphone could be used to listen to meditation or white noise content, we're focusing on headphones specifically designed as sleep aids.
For us specifically, we approached these products with the goal of blocking out general noises as well as snoring.
We spent at least three nights sleeping with each product.
Before we begin, we download and create accounts for each compatible app, experiment with the features of each app, and charge and connect each earbud to our phone using Bluetooth.
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We tested the fit by lying on our sides and on our backs before going to sleep to see if the earphones dislodged in any sleeping positions.
We also tested noise isolation, sound range, and usability.
While we usually don't have much trouble falling asleep, we do tend to wake up and have a hard time going back to sleep.
For the three products that included a companion app with audio, we listened to a variety of sounds for each earbud and decided to stick to the available variations on a crashing wave sound at medium to low volume for our nightly tests.
To assess how well the earphones blocked out external sound, we also listened to a dry cycle and a CNN newscast at a modest volume with each pair to our ears.
Lastly, we used our Apple Watch paired with Apple Health to track our sleep for each pair of sleeping headphones and compare it to any tracking we get from the devices themselves.
Other hearing aids we tried
Amazfit ZenBuds
$149.99 on Amazon
The Amazfit ZenBuds are significantly smaller than the Sleepbuds II and come with a U-shaped fin, which didn't fit our ears easily for overnight security.
And while the Amazfits come with four different sized soft silicone tips - one more than the Bose - their significantly smaller shape didn't work as well for us.
They felt too deep in our ears while we slept, making the whole experience less than satisfying.
The ZenBuds offer some advanced features that go beyond what the Sleepbuds II can do.
Once you insert the ZenBuds into your ears, sound playback starts automatically.
Whereas with the Bose you set a timer to control how long playback continues, a sleep detection feature turns the ZenBuds off once you fall asleep.
As with Bose, an alarm function is available and the ZenBuds cannot play music or any other content.
The earphones will provide 12 hours of playback on a single charge, and the charging case will give you another 56 hours.
kokoon
$249.99 $199 at Kokoon
The Kokoon Nightbuds were our least favorite sleep buds.
In fact, the first night we used them, we woke up with sore ears and took them off.
The next night we couldn't even sleep wearing them so we had to admit defeat.
Another tester managed to wear them for eight nights, but he also couldn't get comfortable, especially when he slept on his side, which caused his ear pain.
Comfort was a deal breaker for us though, the Kokoon Nightbuds.
The full-featured app not only allows you to set a sleep schedule with an alarm to wake you up in the morning, but like Amazfit earphones, it detects when you fall asleep and then lets you decide to fade out the chosen noise. gradually or even tune it to "color noise" once it detects that you fell asleep.
QuietOn 3 Sleep
$269 at QuietOn
The QuietOn 3s are more like a high-end pair of active noise-canceling earplugs than a full-fledged sleeping machine.
QuietOn 3 earphones are self-contained, don't use Bluetooth to pair with an app, won't help track your sleep, and don't include additional sounds to mask noise.
Rather, they use ANC to block out outside noise, and they're built from a soft foam rather than hard plastic elements like the other sleep-oriented earphones we tested.
We found the soft material difficult to fit securely - they're very different from traditional earphones, and after three nights, we still can't be sure they're at peak performance.
They never felt quite comfortable and fell out of our ears on several occasions.
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The QuietOn's noise cancellation filters out most low-frequency noise like traffic and snoring very effectively, feeling strangely isolated compared to headphones that played white noise or ambient sounds.
However, if you want absolute peace of mind, this may be exactly what you're looking for.
The sleek white oval charging case opens to reveal two traditional-looking, wingless, lightweight plastic earbuds.
They're also the smallest of the models we tested because they don't include a Bluetooth transmitter or many other components.
QuietOn says battery life is around 28 hours on a single charge and offers another two nights out of the case.
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