How to sleep in a noisy city: earplugs, windows and white noise

To sleep in a noisy city, cut the noise that reaches your bed first, then cover what's left. That means closing the window on loud nights, sleeping on the quiet side of your home if you can, and wearing foam earplugs, which beat pink noise in a recent sleep lab study. A steady background sound helps some people as well. The rest of the bedroom, from temperature to your own breathing, decides how well you sleep through what still gets in.

How much does city noise affect sleep?

City noise affects sleep more than many people realize, even when they no longer notice it. A 2014 review in The Lancet by a group of noise researchers concluded that environmental noise causes annoyance, disturbs sleep and leads to daytime sleepiness, and that it raises the risk of high blood pressure and heart disease.

The World Health Organization's European office has set guideline levels for night noise based on that research. In its 2018 environmental noise guidelines, it strongly recommends reducing night-time noise below these levels, because noise above them is linked to adverse effects on sleep:

Lnight is a long-term average of night-time noise, measured outdoors at the most exposed side of the building. The WHO's earlier 2009 night noise guidelines set 40 dB outdoors as the target to protect everyone, including children, older adults and people with long-term illness. They set 55 dB as an interim target for places that can't reach 40 dB soon.

These are policy targets for governments, and you can't fix your street on your own. But they show why a busy city bedroom can cost you sleep, and why what you do inside the room matters. The evidence for the individual fixes below is thinner than the evidence that noise harms sleep, which is why the rating above is limited.

Do earplugs work better than white noise?

Earplugs worked better than steady background sound in the one study that compared them directly. A 2026 study in Sleep Health from the University of Pennsylvania had 25 healthy adults sleep in a lab while researchers played 93 intermittent noise events, from road, rail and jet noise to helicopters, drones, a crying baby and a fire alarm. The study tested pink noise at 40 or 50 dB, foam earplugs, and the two combined.

Pink noise reduced arousals and awakenings caused by aircraft noise, and the higher volume helped more. Foam earplugs did better than pink noise. A crying baby and a fire alarm were the most likely to cause arousals and awakenings, followed by helicopter, low sonic boom, drone, rail, jet and road noise.

That's one lab study in young, healthy adults, so it's not the last word. Still, it supports trying earplugs first if outside noise wakes you. Our guide to earplugs for snoring covers foam, wax and silicone types, how noise ratings work, and how to use them safely every night.

Does white noise or pink noise help in a city?

White or pink noise helps some people in a city, but the evidence is weak overall. The idea is that a steady sound masks sudden noises like a passing motorbike, so they stand out less.

A small 2021 study tested this in 10 adults in New York City who had trouble sleeping because of noise where they lived. Over a week with a white noise machine in the bedroom, they spent less time awake after falling asleep, measured with a wrist monitor, and reported falling asleep faster in their sleep diaries.

The wider research is less clear. A 2021 systematic review from the University of Pennsylvania looked at 38 studies of continuous white noise or similar sound and rated the evidence that it improves sleep as very low quality. Results ranged from better sleep to worse sleep, and the authors noted continuous noise may also affect sleep and hearing. Our guide to white noise for sleep goes into the details and how to keep the volume sensible.

If you try it, keep the sound steady and no louder than it needs to be, and judge it on how you feel after a couple of weeks.

Should you sleep with the window open or closed?

On a noisy street, sleeping with the window closed makes the biggest single difference to what reaches your bed. The WHO's 2018 guidelines estimate that indoor noise is usually around 10 dB lower than outside with the window open, about 15 dB lower with it tilted or half-open, and about 25 dB lower with it closed.

The trade-off is air and temperature. A closed window in summer can leave the room stuffy and warm, which also disturbs sleep. A fan, an air conditioner or a cooler bedding setup can make a closed window workable. Our guides to the best bedroom temperature for sleep and air purifiers for sleep cover ways to keep a sealed room comfortable.

Where you sleep matters too. The WHO guidelines note that in one study comparing homes with and without a quiet side, a side of the building facing away from the main noise, people without one more often reported difficulty falling asleep, though the WHO rated that evidence very low quality. If you have a choice of rooms, the one facing a courtyard or back street is worth trying.

How should you set up a bedroom for a noisy city?

Set up a bedroom for a noisy city by blocking what you can, masking what's left, and making the rest of the room as sleep-friendly as possible. The NHS suggests making the bedroom dark and quiet, using curtains, blinds, an eye mask or ear plugs if needed. The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute suggests keeping the bedroom quiet, cool and dark.

Here's a practical checklist:

• Move the bed away from the street-facing wall and window if the room allows.
• Close the window on the loudest nights, and use a fan or air conditioning for airflow.
• Hang heavy curtains, which also block streetlight.
• Try foam earplugs, rolled tightly and inserted while they expand.
• Add a steady fan or white noise machine if sudden sounds still wake you.
• If snoring in the room is part of the noise, consider the Titan Sleep System for the snorer, with earplugs for the partner.
• Keep a regular wake-up time, which the NHS recommends for better sleep, so a few broken nights don't knock your schedule around.

Our sleep environment checklist covers light, temperature, air and bedding in more detail.

What about noise inside your own bedroom?

Some of the noise in a city bedroom comes from inside it. A partner's snoring is one example, and the NHS suggests that people who snore consider asking their partner to use earplugs if it affects their sleep. The snorer can work on their own side as well.

The NHS links snoring to a blocked or narrow nose and to a mouth that falls open during sleep, and matches nasal strips or dilators, and devices that keep the mouth closed, to those causes. A nasal strip lifts the sides of the nose to make breathing feel easier, and mouth tape keeps the lips closed so you breathe through your nose. The Titan Sleep System pairs both, and it can sit alongside earplugs for the bed partner. Our guides to sleeping next to a snorer and how to sleep with a snoring roommate have more ideas.

If you wake with a dry mouth, our guide to why you wake up with a dry mouth covers the usual causes. Mouth tape is only for adults who can breathe comfortably through the nose with the mouth closed. We don't recommend mouth tape for children.

When should you see a doctor?

You should see a doctor if you still sleep badly after reducing noise, or if snoring comes with warning signs. The NHS lists breathing that stops and starts during sleep, gasping, snorting or choking noises, waking up a lot, loud snoring and feeling very tired during the day as symptoms of sleep apnoea, and says to see a GP if you have the main ones. Strips, tape and earplugs don't treat sleep apnea.

The NHS also says to see a GP if changing your sleeping habits hasn't helped insomnia, or if trouble sleeping has gone on for months and is affecting your daily life. Get your ears checked if earplugs cause pain, itching, discharge or a blocked feeling. A nose that's blocked most nights is worth a check too, and if you're pregnant, ask your midwife or doctor before trying strips or tape.

Our pick (paid partner): Titan Sleep System

If snoring or mouth breathing adds to the noise in your bedroom, our pick is the Titan Sleep System. It's our recommendation, not the result of our own testing, and no published study has tested these products. It won't block traffic, but it's a simple way to work on the breathing side of a noisy night.

Titan describes it as TitanAir Nasal Strips and Titan Mouth Tape together as one nightly system. Titan says the strips are drug-free external nasal dilators with flexible, spring-loaded bands, placed just above the flare of the nostrils on the soft part of the nose. It says the tape is a bamboo silk strip worn horizontally across the lips, and suggests 20 to 30 minutes of daytime practice before the first night. Titan says both are third-party tested and certified PFAS-free, with a 30-night guarantee.

Read next

• Does white noise help you sleep?
• The best earplugs for snoring: a guide for bed partners
• Sleep environment checklist

* This content is for informational and educational purposes only and is not medical advice. It is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease or health condition. Talk to a qualified healthcare provider about your health.