Earplugs that don’t hurt your ears

Ear plugs come in a variety of shapes and textures. This style – 3M EARSoft FX

…is soft to the touch and soft in the ear. I can sleep on these all night.

Is your ear canal being irritated, or are you getting pressure on your ear drum?

Edit: I buy these by the box of 200 pair. PM me with an address and I'll send you some.

It's my ear canal that gets irritated. It's like they expand too much and put pressure on it. Feels a little like an "ear headache" if that makes any sense.

The ones linked by Greg are probably made by Howard Leight. I've tried all of them and the Howard Leight Max are by far the most comfortable:

http://www.howardleight.com/earplugs/max

They also make a smaller version:

http://www.howardleight.com/earplugs/max-small

You can often find these OEM'd under different brands in three packs at drugstores if you want to check them out. It's the very soft foam that makes them comfortable and they fit flush inside the ear so no pressure from lying on a pillow.

To insert them properly, you roll them between a finger and thumb, reach over your head with the opposite arm, lift your ear while inserting the ear plug fully.

Have you tried the silicone ear plugs, they mould into the Pinna(that could be the wrong name?) and only superficially into the ear canal. Their noise cancelling is excellent and there is no possibility of physical discomfort as they don't expand.

I'll also recommend Howard Leight earplugs, but I use the "Max lite" style. They are the best I've found for sleeping in.

They are very soft in your ear, and don't irritate me after a few hours like most others do. I use them at work, at home and for sleeping when needed.

http://www.howardleight.com/earplugs/max-lite

I also buy them by the box from Amazon, if you want to try a pair ,PM me.

I share your same problem/ discomfort with ear plugs after sleeping for a few hours. One thing I noticed is that if I do wake up, I'm only half awake and so I just take them out and pass out again; it's getting to sleep initially that the ear plugs are most useful for me. I haven't tried Howard Leight ear plugs out but the silicone ones have been good for me recently.

http://www.woodcraft.com/Product/2085015/38911/Silicone-Ear-Plug-1-Pair.aspx?keyword=&refcode=10INGOPB&device=c&network=g&matchtype=&gclid=CMfO4fWys74CFYlhfgodXCcA1Q

I just cut the extended pole off so that they are much shorter. This way when you are side sleeping your pillow isn't pushing the ear plugs in deeper and there isn't much discomfort in my experience. But yeah, after many hours of wearing any ear plugs it can be a pain. I think it has to do in part with our different ear shapes. Ear buds don't jive with my ear shape either.