Yes, wearing earplugs on a plane is safe and can actually protect your hearing. Cabin noise during takeoff and landing can spike to 105 dB(A), loud enough to cause discomfort, and even at cruising altitude it averages around 71 to 75 dB(A) depending on the aircraft. The one real consideration is whether you’ll be able to hear safety announcements, but for most flights, earplugs are more helpful than harmful.
Why Your Ears Need Protection in Flight
Commercial aircraft cabins are louder than most people realize. A large-scale study of wide-body jets found that cruising noise averages between roughly 70 and 75 dB(A) across different aircraft types. The Airbus A380 sits at the quiet end around 69.5 dB(A), while the A350-900 is a bit louder at about 75 dB(A). Those numbers might sound moderate, but they represent constant, sustained noise for hours on end.
The real concern is low-frequency sound, the deep rumble of engines and airflow. When measured on the C-weighted scale, which captures those low frequencies better, cruising noise jumps to 84 to 88 dB(C). That persistent drone is what leaves you feeling exhausted after a long flight and can contribute to temporary hearing threshold shifts. Takeoff and landing are the loudest moments, with peaks reaching 105 dB(A), well into the range where hearing protection becomes genuinely useful.
Earplugs and Cabin Pressure Changes
The most common worry about wearing earplugs while flying is whether they’ll interfere with your ears’ ability to equalize pressure during ascent and descent. Here’s the key distinction: cabin pressure equalization happens through the Eustachian tube, a tiny canal that connects your middle ear to the back of your throat. Earplugs sit in the outer ear canal, a completely separate passage. They don’t block the Eustachian tube, so they don’t prevent pressure equalization.
In fact, certain earplugs can make pressure changes feel more comfortable. Both standard foam earplugs and specially designed filtered flight earplugs allow a slow, measured passage of air into the ear canal. This “slow leak” limits how fast pressure builds on the outside of your eardrum, giving your Eustachian tube more time to catch up. Testing in a pressure chamber found that pressure-regulating earplugs delayed the maximum pressure reaching the eardrum by about 7 minutes. Participants wearing them reported significantly less discomfort during sudden pressure changes compared to those without earplugs.
So rather than making “airplane ear” worse, earplugs can actually reduce it.
Filtered Flight Earplugs vs. Foam Earplugs
You’ll find two main options for flying: standard foam earplugs and filtered earplugs designed specifically for air travel (often sold under names like EarPlanes or similar brands).
- Foam earplugs are inexpensive and widely available. They offer the highest noise reduction, typically 25 to 33 dB depending on the brand, which makes them excellent for sleeping on long flights. They also naturally allow a slow air leak around the foam, so they still permit gradual pressure equalization.
- Filtered flight earplugs use a ceramic or similar filter that specifically regulates airflow while blocking noise. They’re designed to slow down the rate of pressure change reaching your eardrum, making them a good choice if you’re prone to ear pain during descent. The noise reduction is typically lower than foam, usually around 20 dB, so you’ll hear more ambient sound and conversation.
Both types are safe. If your main goal is blocking noise for sleep or comfort on a long flight, foam earplugs work well. If you tend to get ear pain during takeoff and landing, filtered earplugs are worth trying.
Can You Still Hear Safety Announcements?
This is the one legitimate concern. The European Union Aviation Safety Agency notes that wearing earplugs reduces your ability to hear crew announcements and safety instructions, and increases the time you need to react to a developing situation. That said, no major airline bans earplugs. Cabin announcements are played at high volume through overhead speakers, and in an emergency, visual cues, cabin crew physically directing passengers, and the general response of people around you all supplement what you hear.
A practical approach: wear your earplugs during cruise when announcements are routine (beverage service, turbulence reminders), and remove them during taxi, takeoff, and landing when safety-critical communication is most likely. If you’re a deep sleeper who wouldn’t wake to a loud announcement, consider using earplugs with a lower noise reduction rating so you stay somewhat aware.
If You Have Eustachian Tube Problems
People who already have trouble equalizing ear pressure, whether from chronic Eustachian tube dysfunction, a cold, sinus congestion, or allergies, often worry that earplugs will make things worse. The pressure chamber study specifically tested people with Eustachian tube dysfunction and found that pressure-regulating earplugs didn’t improve the tube’s actual function, but they did significantly reduce subjective discomfort. The slower rate of pressure change gave participants’ impaired Eustachian tubes more time to adjust, even if the underlying dysfunction remained.
For people in this group, filtered flight earplugs are a reasonable tool to combine with the standard techniques: swallowing, yawning, or gently blowing against pinched nostrils during descent. They won’t fix the problem, but they can take the edge off.
Children and Ear Tubes
Children are more prone to ear pain during flights because their Eustachian tubes are narrower and more horizontal than adults’. Filtered earplugs sized for kids can help slow pressure changes and reduce crying and discomfort during descent.
For children who have tympanostomy tubes (small tubes surgically placed in the eardrum to drain fluid), the situation is different. Those tubes create an alternate path for air to flow through the eardrum, which actually helps equalize pressure on its own. Earplugs aren’t typically needed for pressure purposes in these kids, and their surgeon may have specific guidance about what should and shouldn’t go in the ear canal.
Timing and Practical Tips
To get the most benefit from earplugs during a flight, insert them before the cabin door closes. Cabin pressure starts changing as soon as the plane begins climbing, and having earplugs already in place ensures the slow-leak effect is working from the start. Keep them in through descent and landing, since that’s when pressure changes most sharply and ear pain is most common. If you’re only using them for noise and sleep during cruise, the timing matters less.
Make sure foam earplugs are properly inserted by rolling them thin, pulling your ear up and back, and holding them in place for 20 to 30 seconds while they expand. A loose fit defeats both the noise reduction and the pressure-regulation benefits. Filtered earplugs are pre-shaped and simply press into place, but check the sizing, as an adult plug won’t seal properly in a child’s ear canal.