Alternatives to ear plugs?

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Hi. If this topic has already been covered elsewhere then please direct me to it. The amount of light and the noise of birds outside my window wakes me up really early in the morning. It's getting too hot for me to sleep with my duvet over my head, which is how I normally deal with it. I've tried using ear plugs, but, because of my hypersensitivity to touch, the ear plugs stop me from being able to get to sleep. Finding a sleep mask for my eyes that doesn't hurt my face shouldn't be a big problem, but that still leaves the noise issue. Are there any alternatives to ear plugs that aren't super expensive? Any help you could give me would be appreciated.

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Last edited by jimmy m on 19 May 2022, 11:53 am, edited 1 time in total.

When I was young, one of my first jobs required that I work both Swing shift and Night shift. I worked around 50 hours a week and I slept during the daytime. I lived in an apartment with very insulated lighting. It turned the inside of my apartment so dark that it was like darkness. This type of shading still exist if you look for it. I found this on the internet to give you an idea of what to look for.

Total Sunlight Blocking Window Cover

There are smaller ear plugs made for women, or even children. Would those be more comfortable?

I've been using ear plugs for more than 15 years. You'll get used to them.

That seems like it could help. If it were me I'd be a cheapskate about it and make a thick, close-fitting shutter out of scraps of wood, but then I like making things. One advantage is that thick, heavy wood ought to cut down the noise as well. I suppose the right kind of double glazing might get the noise down, but that won't be cheap, and with sound insulation it's hard to be sure it'll be enough until you've installed it. With birdsong you'd be in with a relatively good chance of cutting it down because there's no bass in it - bass goes through wood and glass like it wasn't there. Me, I don't think I could bear the sensory irritation of wearing earplugs.

Another possible way might be to play a continuous sound of similar frequency to the birdsong through an amplifier and speaker, to drown out the unwanted noise. Continuous, smooth noise is easier for the brain to get used to and ignore than intermittent bursts of noise.

I suppose there might be some way to discourage the birds from hanging about too near to your window.

No, there aren't. You could try cotton balls but I don't know how effective they would be.