I like it very quiet going to sleep. There are little noises that bother me so I use to wear the ear plugs but after few days I started getting red rashes and slight pain so stopped using them. I like music and already had the QC30 headphones which are great at noise cancelling. I never thought of it before so tried them on going to bed after reading that they can be used as a sleeping aid.
As soon as the headphones are switched ON there is complete silence. I felt really peaceful and had a deep sleep forgot to take them off until few hours. So in the morning I woke up without any soreness on the ears. I sleep on my back so it did not bother me, sometimes I do sleep on the side by my pillow adjusts so don't feel any difference.
The good this is there is no soreness and it gave me the much needed quiet. When I'm travelling I carry them with me and they are very effective every single time.
I used to wear earplugs before the CPAP because the husband snores to shake the walls. But now I find that the earplugs amplify the blowing sound of my breathing, which I find even more difficult to listen to. Not sure how to manage this yet, other than sending my spouse to the sleep clinic. I love the noice cancelling headphones idea-might try it, but I'm not much of a back sleeper.
My wife made me place my machine inside of my nightstand that has doors and a shelf for like books where I set the cpap on. I made a hole about the size of a book to get air flow and to get the hose out of it, truthfully a small hole big enough for the hose would have been fine, those doors aren't air tight. It is quieter but still bad since they increased my pressure higher,m and the mask I have is very noisy.