Sleeping next to a snorer is a nightly endurance test, but you have more options than you might think. The average snore hits 50 to 65 decibels, roughly the volume of a normal conversation, and extreme snoring can reach 80 to 90 decibels, comparable to a vacuum cleaner running inches from your head. That’s loud enough to pull you out of deep sleep repeatedly, even if you don’t fully wake up. The strategies below range from simple sound masking to tech solutions and ways to reduce the snoring itself.
Why Snoring Is So Hard to Sleep Through
Your brain is wired to respond to irregular sounds, even during sleep. Snoring is particularly disruptive because it’s not a steady hum. It surges and pauses unpredictably, which triggers your brain’s alerting system over and over. A constant noise at the same volume would be far easier to tune out. This intermittent quality is what makes snoring harder to block than, say, traffic noise or a fan, and it’s why some common solutions work better than others.
Use Sound to Your Advantage
Sound masking works by filling the silence between snores so the contrast between quiet and loud is less jarring. The goal isn’t necessarily to drown out the snoring completely. It’s to reduce the gap between background noise and snore peaks so your brain stops reacting.
White noise machines are the most popular option, but they aren’t always the best fit for snoring. Snoring tends to sit in the low-to-mid frequency range, and white noise distributes energy equally across all frequencies. Pink noise, which emphasizes lower frequencies, does a better job matching that range. Brown noise goes even deeper, with a rumbling quality that’s particularly effective at covering up sounds that start and stop abruptly. If you’ve tried a white noise machine and it didn’t help, switching to a brown noise setting or app may make a noticeable difference.
Place the sound source between you and the snorer, not on your far side. A bedside speaker or sound machine on the nightstand closest to your partner creates a more effective buffer than one behind your head.
Earbuds and Earplugs Compared
Foam earplugs are cheap and block roughly 20 to 30 decibels when inserted properly, which is enough to take the edge off moderate snoring. The trick is rolling them into a tight cylinder and letting them expand fully inside the ear canal. Many people insert them too loosely and then assume earplugs don’t work. Wax or silicone putty earplugs mold to the outer ear and can be more comfortable for side sleepers since they don’t protrude.
Sleep-specific earbuds with active noise cancellation (ANC) are a step up, but their effectiveness against snoring varies. ANC technology works best on steady, low-frequency sounds like airplane engines. Snoring is irregular, and most ANC earbuds struggle to respond fast enough to each surge. Budget sleep earbuds help with relatively constant, lower-frequency noise but aren’t responsive enough for loud snoring. Higher-end options like the Apple AirPods Pro can mask most snoring, even without music playing, thanks to more advanced noise cancellation. If you’re considering this route, the price gap between budget and premium earbuds matters more for snoring than for almost any other use case.
Comfort is the other factor. You’ll need something you can actually wear all night, including when you roll onto your side. Look for earbuds with a low profile and soft wing tips designed for sleep, not repurposed workout earbuds.
Help the Snorer Snore Less
The most effective long-term strategy is reducing the snoring at its source. Most snoring gets worse when someone sleeps on their back because gravity pulls the soft tissue in the throat into the airway. Anything that encourages side sleeping can help significantly. An “intelligent” anti-snoring pillow tested in a clinical study increased side sleeping by nearly three times, reduced breathing disruptions by 57%, and decreased snoring by 31%. You don’t necessarily need a smart pillow to get this effect. A simple body pillow or even a tennis ball sewn into the back of a sleep shirt can discourage back sleeping.
Elevating the head of the bed by a few inches can also open the airway. Some adjustable bed bases now include sensors that detect snoring and automatically raise the head. Users report mixed results: for some, the automatic elevation stops snoring episodes effectively enough that their partner no longer wakes up. Others find head elevation alone doesn’t help much, particularly on nights after heavy exercise or alcohol. The technology works best for mild to moderate snoring and isn’t a substitute for treating a genuine breathing disorder.
Nasal strips are widely marketed for snoring, but the evidence behind them is weak. When researchers pooled all available studies, the reductions in snoring were small, and nasal strips didn’t perform better than a placebo. They may help if nasal congestion is the primary cause of the snoring, but for most people, the vibration happens deeper in the throat where a strip on the nose has no effect.
Alcohol, sedating medications, and extreme tiredness all relax the throat muscles and make snoring louder. If your partner’s snoring is notably worse on certain nights, these are the most likely culprits. Even skipping that last drink can make a measurable difference.
Rearrange Your Sleep Environment
Small changes to the bedroom can stack up. If outside noise is also a factor, heavy curtains designed for sound absorption can reduce noise coming through windows by 7 to 15 decibels depending on the weight and construction. That won’t help with snoring from the same room, but it lowers the overall noise floor so your sound machine has less work to do.
Sleeping with a gap helps more than people expect. If your bed is large enough, adding space between you and the snorer reduces the volume reaching your ears. Sound intensity drops with distance, so even an extra foot or two matters. Some couples switch to two twin mattresses on a shared frame, which also eliminates the motion transfer when the snorer shifts position.
Separate bedrooms remain the most reliable solution when nothing else works. Research on couples who sleep apart consistently shows no negative effect on relationship satisfaction, and in many cases the relationship improves because both people are better rested. If separate rooms feel drastic, start with a trial: sleep apart on weeknights and together on weekends, and see how your daytime energy and mood change.
When Snoring Signals Something Bigger
Not all snoring is harmless. If the snorer pauses their breathing for several seconds, then gasps or chokes before snoring resumes, that pattern points to obstructive sleep apnea. These episodes can repeat five to 30 or more times per hour, preventing the snorer from reaching deep, restorative sleep. Other signs include excessive daytime sleepiness, morning headaches, and irritability that doesn’t match their hours in bed.
Sleep apnea carries real health risks, including high blood pressure, heart disease, and impaired concentration. Treatment, typically a CPAP device worn at night, often eliminates the snoring entirely, which solves the problem for both of you. If you’re noticing gasping or long silent pauses between snores, that’s worth bringing up with the snorer and encouraging them to get evaluated.