I was daydreaming at work about a modern noise-isolation helmet - a lightweight vacuum chamber that would fit over the head (basically like a giant insulated aluminium coffee cup), and thought "I bet one of those oldy-timey Buckminster Fuller types tried to make one out of lead". Lo and behold: The Isolator

More usefully, a little air filter/fan will help a bit with washing out random noise. Maybe a headband would work? Harder to randomly remove, and it could either hold the earplugs in place or I think there are some that are mufflers themselves.

Maybe it's just because autism, but I've never done well with earplugs. I'm very particular about sensory things when I'm trying to sleep

I tried that once and somehow ended up with one inbetween my toes

Earplugs make my brain go "why headphones but no sound?" Even when I'm wearing them at work for their intended purpose I look at my phone to try to unpause my earplugs...

My partners cpap made me become an earplug person and now I can no longer sleep without the full sensory deprivation thing that they provide, like at all. I use bilsom earplugs that I buy in bulk from a farm store, one bag has 200 pairs in it, lol. That way they are pretty cheap. Add on top the sleep mask that has bluetooth speakers for my audiobooks and I've solved my lifelong sleep issues, especially issues with falling asleep from my own mind chatter (audhd).

But yeah, I still take them off in my sleep or they just fall out. I've found them from my ass crack several times, been woken up with one of them in my mouth (disgusting) and there are always several littered under my mattress.

I don't know what I'd do if I didn't have these things to help me sleep tbh. Not sure if I recommend making them a habit.

hmm, soft earmuffs? doesn't need to be a product you could try wrangling a t-shirt kinda half way on your head and then fold it a few times and get a little sound dampening from the layers

I HATE having stuff in my ears. The best I'm with are Apple's old "earpods" as those don't go inside the ear canal. That's the autism cranking the "automatic gain control" up on all the senses for you.

I do like headphones though.

Fiberglass insulation inside interior walls would help with cutting noise from other rooms down. Would probably also help with the "thermostat wars".

Unfortunately common sense as a concept is completely foreign to capitalism.

Have you tried blocking out other people's "bad noise" with your own "soothing noise"?

I had great results with "sleep headphones" like this sort of thing: amazon - musicozy headphones (obviously similar things are likely available from other shops in your country/town etc).

I play things like audio files for "8 hour train journey" or "spaceship ambient noise" and stuff like that, liberated from Youtube - you can use the headband as an eye mask as well.

I used to wake up, alert and defensive, every time there was the slightest noise anywhere - but I basically sleep straight through in one go if I have these on.

If you're already successfully using some sort of eye mask, perhaps you wouldn't feel the need to remove it when asleep?

Possibly worth a try if there's a chance of good sleep for the rest of your life?