At one time or another, most of us have had to spend a night or two next to or near a snorer. If you’ve ever hauled your mattress into a hotel bathroom or just slept in the car when a perfectly fine bed is an option, you know what we’re talking about.
Snoring is one of those sounds that exist at a pseudo-spiritual decibel. In other words, it doesn’t seem to matter what you jam in your ears, you can still hear it. And, have you ever noticed that snorers have the spooky ability to fall asleep in ten seconds flat?
You can’t even try to fall asleep first, counting sheep as your partner snores next to you, because you will lose every time.
Fortunately, AirPods Pro and AirPods Max come with what is called “Max Active Noise Cancellation.” But will AirPods block snoring?
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Can AirPods Block Snoring?
AirPods are effective at blocking snoring and can usually reduce it to little more than very low background noise. It probably depends on just how loudly your sleeping mate snores, but Apple Airpods Pro and Apple AirPods Max have a pretty good success rate when it comes to blocking out snoring and frequently make the top 5 in lists that have that very question in mind.
Active noise canceling will help a lot. However, ANC works best canceling out noises that are constant like the loud buzzing of a refrigerator. When it comes to intermittent noises, like on and off snoring, ANC is less effective but should still help enough to get you to sleep.
Keep in mind that some people take issue with the Airpods Pro as they do not switch themselves off after whatever you were listening to has finished. This usually results in them running out of battery in the middle of the night and playing a loud sound that could wake you back up again.
A squishy pillow and a soft mattress will be your friends if you plan to sleep with AirPods. The squishy pillow will stop you from feeling the AirPods in your ears if you sleep with your ear against the pillow and a soft mattress may prevent your AirPods from breaking under your weight if they fall out while you’re sleeping and you happen to roll into them during the night.
If they do fall out during the night, make sure you locate them in the morning so they don’t end up in the wash.
The Max Active Noise Cancellation is pretty excellent in the AirPods Pro and Max but if you are thinking about using one of the earlier generation AirPods, (the ones that are shaped like circles, have a hard shell, and lack any kind of earbud tip), good luck, because those AirPods aren’t going to cut it.
Apple is always innovating but its problem is, whenever they come up with an innovation that is widely hated by the consumer, Apple takes it to the next level, trying to force the path of technological progress into its own lane, usually failing in the process.
Original AirPods hurt, are not worth sleeping in, and have no sealing capability when you fit them in your ears. Fortunately, Apple smartened up, unlike they did with the iPhone lightning chargers, and developed new earbuds with earbud tips that do much to assist the noise canceling tech within.
Is It OK To Wear AirPods While Sleeping?
It’s perfectly fine to wear AirPods while you are sleeping unless you are trying to wear the early gen versions, which will fall out of your ears the first moment you turn your head and will end up under the bed or stuck to your backside.
The newer AirPods, like the Pro, hold their place in your ears pretty well, especially since they come with different size earbud tips for you to choose from. One thing is for sure, it’s not going to do you any harm, and having a soft, squishy pillow will make them much more bearable to sleep with.
The Apple AirPods Max are over-the-ear headphones, so you will have to sleep on your back with them.
Usually, the worst that can happen is that one of the AirPods falls out in the middle of the night and you will have to stumble around the bed searching for it first thing in the morning.
Although unlikely, your chances of breaking an AirPod are increased if you sleep on a very firm mattress and end up rolling on them during the night.
If you can’t find one or both of your AirPods, you could always play some loud music through them and follow the sound.
The only other area of concern is battery life. With the AirPods Max, you get 20 hours, so there’s nothing to be concerned about there. However, the Pros only get about 5 hours so they will die on you in the middle of the night or the battery low warning will wake you up.
With Active Noise Cancelling on, you will probably get even less than 5 hours, but if it’s enough to get you into la-la land and that’s all you need, mission accomplished.
How Do You Comfortably Sleep With AirPods?
The bar that extends down from the portion that fits in your ear can be aggravating at times, but you can adjust it to something more comfortable.
It also depends on how you sleep. If you like to lay with your ear on a pillow, sleeping with an AirPod on that side won’t be very comfortable, but can be made more comfortable by sleeping with a very soft pillow. If you do like to lay on your side, however, you could try to use only one earbud in the opposite ear and it might lower the volume of the snoring just enough for you to get to sleep.
Keeping only one earbud in slightly limits your control, however, as both earbuds have different touch controls. Your best bet is to find what you want to listen to, adjust the volume so that it’s perfect, roll over on the opposite side, and go to sleep.
One ear will be uncovered and exposed to the person beside you, sounding like a wooly mammoth after a ten-mile sprint uphill, but burying your empty ear in the pillow may be enough for you.
With the AirPods Max, you will have to sleep on your back since sleeping on your side will press the over-the-ear cushion into the area around your ear pretty hard, cutting off circulation to the skin surface it touches.
The Max is extremely comfortable over the ears, so if you can sleep on your back, you won’t have much to worry about. You can pretty much expect them to wake you up if you roll on your side in the middle of the night though.
Related Article: Can Headphones Break If Too Loud? (Explained)
Will Wearing AirPods Disturb Someone Sleeping Next To Me?
AirPods shouldn’t disturb someone sleeping next to you, so long as that someone doesn’t try to snuggle in the middle of the night and instead, ends up headbutting your AirPods Max or knocking your Pros out of your ears. Regarding the ambient noise escaping from either, it’s not that much and is only a slight sound.
Besides, if your partner sounds like the thunder god riding a lightning bolt when they breathe, they really don’t have much ground to stand on if the tiny little sounds that might emit from the Pro or Max headphones are bothering them.
Besides, you would really have to crank up the volume on the AirPod Pro or the AirPod Max for there to be much in the way of noise escaping from either. Apple packed a lot of advanced tech into both of them and part of that involves keeping the noise focused on your eardrums and nowhere else.
The Pros And Cons Of Wearing AirPods To Block Out Snoring
Of course, there is a caveat with everything and if you are trying to just block out the snoring before you lose your ever-loving mind, you may have to make a sacrifice or two on your own end.
| Pros | Cons |
| >Apple’s noising cancelation tech is second to none >The Airpod Pro and Max form great seals >Both are very lightweight >Both have great sound quality >Both are resistant to night sweat | >Both will limit how you sleep >AirPods Pro have a short battery life >Airpods Pro can start to hurt the inside of your ear after a long time wearing them >AirPods Max will probably wake you up if you roll over |
One way to solve the cons on the above list is to simply get used to wearing them. It will take time, especially if you are a sleeper that moves around a lot, or if you like to sleep on your side rather than on your back.
Your ears will have to get used to it as well because once you fall asleep, they are going to be in or on your ears for hours. Lastly, there is the idea of listening to something when you are falling asleep. The best advice is to stick with music or with audiobooks that you have already listened to.
If you listen to a new audiobook, you may find yourself constantly distracted from falling to sleep, as new events come along in the book that cries out for your attention. Sometimes, a good book that you have never listened to will elevate your emotions, making it even harder to sleep.
One option is to turn on the Active Noise Canceling feature and listen to nothing at all, allowing the noise-canceling to fend off the snores. However, if you combine low-decibel music or audiobooks with noise-canceling, you will have a one-two punch against those floor-rattling snores.
Which AirPods Are Best To Block Out Snoring?
The AirPods Max is best at keeping out the sounds of snoring. Not only do they wrap around each ear, providing a solid seal to fend off exterior noise, but the outward-facing speakers that serve the function of noise-cancellation are more robust and effective than they are in the AirPods Pro.
However, the Pros are pretty good as well. When it comes to Apple Airpods that lack earbud tips, you’re wasting your time. Not only do they hurt from hours of being in your ear, but they are also much more susceptible to simply falling out of your ears in the middle of the night.
If you want something that is straight out of the Apple ecosystem and one of the major reasons is to block out snoring, you can’t do better than going with the Apple AirPods Max. Sure, they’re not really AirPods technically speaking but they are called Airpods.
If it’s enough to block out the horrendous snoring that you have to endure, you probably don’t care what it’s called, so long as it works. The Apple AirPods Max will do the job just fine.
