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Comment by ChuckNorris89 | Hacker News Reader

I used to sleep with earplugs very nicely until I got an ear infection and the doctor told me to lay off them.

So I bought a bluetooth speaker that can play files off a SD card, and loaded it up with a 1 hour rain sounds file and play that in a loop as white noise when I sleep.

Feels better as my brain can focus on the soothing sounds of the rain instead of the thoughts that sometimes creep up in the silence of the earplugs.

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I use this free software application on my phone at night: https://f-droid.org/en/packages/org.mcxa.softsound/ F-Droid also has another app called Noice which is more modern and has more features&sounds, but I prefer the sound samples in this one.

I just put the phone in the charger in my bedroom and turn up the volume a bit, though I am considering getting speakers since the rain sound doesn't sound 100% perfect through the phone speakers.

I use a mix of storm@100%, rain @90%, and wind+fire at 70-80%.

I don't have an issue with loud neighbours, but it helps to fall asleep and makes a daily routine which also helps with falling asleep fast.

I grew up sleeping with a humidifier first in my room and then just some kind of noisy fan. Nowadays I use a Marpac sound machine, like you see in doctors offices sometimes. Kind of a quirky habit but silence feels so... deafening.

I use an air filter for white noise. I breath better too.

You should throw away the earplugs every few days. Or, you could use soft silicone putty earplugs, and sterilize them during the day.

how do you sterilize them?

Rubbing (isopropyl) alcohol works.

would peroxide work?

I did exchange them often, that's not the problem. The problem is with earpulgs in summer moisture accumulates in your ear canal and with the lack of oxygen bacteria thrives inside.

Damn, I was worried this might be a thing. No issues yet but coming on two years of daily use... might be time to look for some alternatives.

Check out the ambience apps. It's doing this, but very customizable!

On the other hand, a memory card won't start skipping at 10PM when the kids downstairs start playing with their $10 aliexpress quadcopter that barfs theoretically highly illegal quantities of RF all over 2.4GHz.

Ditto for $2 aliexpress chargers and their gaggle of $20 whitelabeled progeny on amazon.

Fair. I haven't faced that oddly specific situation :).

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