Have you tried using ear plugs? I've found they work well for me outside of when I need to use an alarm.

Sometimes I feel like an alien when people suggest earplugs for noise problems. Maybe I just process sound very differently.

Earplugs succeed at exactly one task: attenuating dangerous sound levels down to comfortable ones. The don't reduce the amount of information. A 30dB conversation is exactly as distracting as a 60dB conversation. I also have custom fitted IEMs that provide similar attenuation. These are equally useless when disconnected. You still need masking sound. You just need less of it.

In a quiet environment, earplugs amplify the sounds of my own body. I hear my heart beating. I hear fluid sloshing around. I hear very prominent vibrations from anywhere my head is shifting relative to the pillow. I'd have to work pretty hard to design a more unsettling sleep-deprivation apparatus than earplugs.

None of this is remotely as useful as an actually quiet room with a box fan running.

Which earplugs did you try and what is their frequency attenuation? If they are designed for musicians, they may attenuate all frequencies equally.

I often sleep with Ohropax foam earplugs. They eliminate the high frequencies like sirens. They reduce the mid-range and low frequencies, too. Conversation becomes muffled quiet mumbling. Noises can transmit through the frame of the frame of the building, my bed frame, my mattress, my pillow, and my head. Luckily, such noises are rare in my building. I'm not distracted by my body's internal sounds.

I tried many many kinds of earplugs. The Ohropax ones work the best for me. I can wear them for 2-3 sleep cycles (3-4.5 hours) before my ears hurt, but only if I insert them far enough into my ears. For smaller ears, Mack's Dreamgirl earplugs are good.

https://www.amazon.com/Ohropax-Soft-Foam-Ear-Plugs/dp/B000V3...

https://www.amazon.com/Macks-Dreamgirl-Soft-Foam-Earplugs/dp...

>I'm not distracted by my body's internal sounds

You are very lucky.

I use the solid sleepplugs from sensaphonics: https://www.sensaphonics.com/collections/plugs-sleeves/produ...

They are molded to my exact ears. I have tried several other ear plugs, and none of them come close to the level of isolation, including normal custom IEM's. Sometimes things are a little too loud (e.g. neighbors that won't quit on 4th of july at 2am), so adding white noise helps smooth things over.

I will say that I can very clearly hear my breathing with these in, as well as my heart beat sometimes. It's sometimes that bothered me for a couple of nights, but now it's quite comforting.

I tried earplugs of several kinds, but they uniformly sucked. They fell out when I would roll onto my side during sleep, and my ears would produce like 3x the normal amount of wax the following morning.

Ears don't like having shit stuffed into them for prolonged periods of time. I've noticed it with headphones, earbuds, earplugs, etc.

I remember when I moved downtown having a hard time sleeping for these reasons. There were some cop cars that would drive around in the early am hours and seemingly play their sirens in beatboxing patterns just for the hell of it. I eventually just became adapted to it and could sleep through any noise after about a year

I live in an apartment building in a quite noisy locale, Manhattan in New York City.

I solved the problem with pliable silicone "putty" earplugs. They provide the closest to dead silence I've found.

The earplugs attenuate sound by 50% is my guess, making inaudible all but the loudest ambulance sirens and shoes dropped to the floor in the unit above.

I'm not sure where I heard it but I've heard that wearing earplugs for prolonged periods isn't good either. Beyond that, I don't like the feeling (even of the putty ones) after a few hours. My ears start to feel clammy and like I'm building some kind of bacteria dish inside my ear.

Ear plugs have never been enough for me. Also - if it gets too quiet then my tinnitus starts going. Thus, like OP, I use a fan. Bothers my partner but she's gotten used to it. She can't stand the part where I like having it pointed at me too (I'm not very good at regulating body temperature at night without one).

I've always just thought it was ridiculous that I should have to wear ear plugs to sleep in my own home. Why do people tolerate that? (I know, that's apartment living for you, etc., but not all apartments are that way.)

It is bizarre and insane, but cities seem uninterested in reducing noise pollution from ground transport, machinery, aircraft, sirens and emergency vehicles, etc..

it is ridiculous. learn to sleep better instead of blaming noise

Ear wax can harden or build up and usually it is ideal to leave them to self-clear unless there is a deafening blockage, infection or similar.

I had issues personally just with headphones and work from home subsitution with white noise (unfortunately others of my household are hard of hearing and loud) worked well for me.