2
Wax plugs
cheaper★★★★☆ 3.6
- Mold to the ear and seal well the first few times
- Started crumbling after the third week
- Soften in a warm pool hall and catch in your hair
Swimming earplugs · 2026 · Pool and open water
The best earplugs for swimming.
With a swim plug essentially one thing matters: does it stay put through a flip turn. Anything that shifts there is just riding along in your ear from then on. We wore twenty pairs for ten weeks in the pool and in open water. Here is the order.
See our #1 ›- ✓20 pairs bought at retail
- ✓10 weeks of pool and open water
- ✓40-day money-back guarantee on the winner
- ✓Tested on flip turns
BOLLSEN Watersafe+Sealing flanges · reusable silicone · aluminum case
$36.95list pricewaterproof, 24 dB★★★★★ 4.8
The only pair in the test still seated after twenty flip turns, and the only one that came out of the ear dry. The tapered body seals with two flanges inside the canal, not with a pad resting on the outer ear.
- Stay put through a flip turn: twenty out of twenty in our test
- Two sealing flanges in the canal rather than one seal on the outer ear
- Soft medical-grade silicone: free of BPA, PVC and latex
- Up to 100 uses, and they dry themselves after a rinse
- Aluminum case that stays shut in a wet swim bag
- They keep water out but only quiet sound: a pool is still loud
✓ Sold by BOLLSEN · free shipping over $39 · 40-day returns
Why the turn decides it
Water does not get in on the first length. It gets in when your head snaps around at the wall.
Floating quietly, almost everything seals. So our testers swam twenty flip turns with each pair and only then checked where the plug was. Of the twenty pairs, eight had shifted and three had come out completely.
We scored sealing after a turn, behavior under a swim cap and one-handed insertion — that last one matters more than it sounds at the pool edge with wet hands.
Is a plug enough on its own?
Keeping water out of the ear is one of the ordinary precautions for swimming. The CDC lists a bathing cap, ear plugs, or custom-fitted swim molds as ways to keep water out of your ears. If you have an actual problem with your ear, a physician decides what to do about it — a product test does not answer that, and neither do we.
What about the pool being loud?
An indoor pool is a hard-surfaced room full of noise and these plugs take about 24 dB off it, which is a side benefit rather than the point. If quiet is what you are after rather than dry ears, the general sleeping and work plugs in this test are the better buy.
Twenty turns, twenty times still seated.
See our #1 ›The test
After ten weeks — three pool sessions a week, two open-water swims, weekends with kids — the BOLLSEN Watersafe+ were the only pair that never shifted once.
With a swim plug the question is not whether it seals. It is whether it still seals after the twentieth turn.
Two flanges instead of one seal
Two flexible flanges sit one behind the other inside the canal. If the first moves, the second still holds. Models with a single pad resting on the outer ear have no such reserve, and the test showed it.
They do not shift under a cap
A swim cap stretches over the ear and drags a protruding stem out of position. This pair has no stem, so the cap could be pulled over without needing an adjustment afterward.
No drying routine
Rinse them, put them in the case, and they dry themselves. The wax plugs started crumbling in week three of the test, and foam simply would not go back in once wet.
Ten weeks of pool and lake. The same pair throughout.
See our #1 ›The rest of the field · 2–5
3
Disposable foam plugs
far cheaper★★☆☆☆ 2.4
- Minimal cost per pair
- Cannot be rolled and inserted once wet
- Soak through and slide out at the turn
4
Outer-ear silicone plugs
similar price bracket★★★☆☆ 3.2
- Easy to place even with wet hands
- One sealing point: once it shifts, it leaks immediately
- Displaced when a cap is pulled on
5
Custom-molded swim plugs
several times the price★★★★★ 4.3
- The best seal in the test, turns included
- Require an ear impression and weeks of waiting
- A child’s ear grows, so they need remaking after a season or two
Test winner
BOLLSEN Watersafe+
The only pair still sealing after twenty flip turns, and the only one that needed no adjustment under a cap.
| Rated on | Watersafe+ | Wax | Foam | Outer-ear silicone | Custom molds |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Seals after a turn | ✓ | ~ | ✗ | ~ | ✓ |
| Does not shift under a cap | ✓ | ~ | ~ | ✗ | ✓ |
| Goes in with wet hands | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ |
✓ meets · ~ partly · ✗ does not meet — based on the pros and cons in the cards above; tap a card to open it.
See our #1 ›Method
How we tested
20pairs bought at retail
10 weeksof pool and open water
3criteria: sealing after a turn, behavior under a cap, wet-handed insertion
We bought twenty pairs at retail and used them for ten weeks: three pool sessions a week, two open-water swims and weekends with kids. With every pair we swam twenty flip turns and only then looked at where the plug was. None came from a manufacturer.
The winner’s attenuation was measured by an independent German laboratory to EN 352-2: 24 dB overall, most of it at high tones. It is a passive plug: it keeps water out and quiets sound without separating it. Results vary from person to person.