# Why can't I hear myself snore? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 30, 1999, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-cant-i-hear-myself-snore/2282 "1999-07-30T20:11:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 1999, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-cant-i-hear-myself-snore/2282/1 "1999-07-30T20:11:00Z")
I snore. Very loudly according to my daughter. At times I wake myself up snoring. Most of the time I cannot hear the snores. Why can I hear my snores sometimes and not others? Sometimes I am lying on the couch watching tv and close my eyes. I do not feel like I am asleep because I can still hear and understand the tv. My daughter says I am asleep because my eyes are closed and I am snoring. Why do I hear the tv and not the snores? Any experts on this? ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 1999, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-cant-i-hear-myself-snore/2282/2 "1999-07-30T20:44:00Z")
I sometimes catch myself snoring. It’s difficult, granted, but as you drift in and out of consciousness, the awareness and snoring play cat-and-mouse. When your daughter says you are snoring, you are unconscious, period - you are just imagining you’ve been hearing the tv all along, when in reality you are only aware of it momentarily during those moments you awaken - and stop snoring. ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 1999, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-cant-i-hear-myself-snore/2282/3 "1999-07-30T20:47:00Z")
Whoo boy, I was momentarily unconscious during the moment I wrote that sentence. ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 1999, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-cant-i-hear-myself-snore/2282/4 "1999-07-30T23:51:00Z")
I don’t snore! Dispite what my wife says! Never have. She’s dreaming!..Snoreless Carl ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 1999, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-cant-i-hear-myself-snore/2282/5 "1999-07-31T00:33:00Z")
My wife must have studied under Pavlov. It used to be that whenever I snored she’d poke me in the side. Now as soon as I hear myself snoring, I immediately wake up and flinch. Then I roll over and go back to sleep. My wife doesn’t notice my snoring as much anymore. ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 1999, 7:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-cant-i-hear-myself-snore/2282/6 "1999-08-02T07:41:00Z")
My case is very similar, PapaBear, except that I don’t wake up anymore when my wife pokes me. 🙂 In fact, she has long since resorted to kicking me instead. Still, I have developed elaborate strategies, such as pretending to roll over and going on snoring a minute later. All in my sleep, of course. ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 1999, 11:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-cant-i-hear-myself-snore/2282/7 "1999-08-02T11:56:00Z")
I snore. Used to a lot more, till my father in law bought me “Breathe Easy” strips. Nope…I’m not some crazed salesman, just a humble…snorer? I am aware of my snoring during those “fugue state” sleep moments,i.e. coming into or moving out of sleep. Also, when I nap ( which is infrequently. ). I find it cute, the wife…does…not. 🙂 Typer ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 1999, 12:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-cant-i-hear-myself-snore/2282/8 "1999-08-02T12:15:00Z")
My father used to be an extremely loud snorer. Several years ago he had his nostrils drilled, I’m not kidding about this they ream them right out. It seems he broke his nose playing soccer in college. My mother says it reduced the volume but not the occurance. ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 1999, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-cant-i-hear-myself-snore/2282/9 "1999-08-02T13:42:00Z")
Thanks for letting me know I’m not the only one who snores! But I still don’t see why I can only hear it sometimes and not others. Am I really unconscious if I can hear the tv and remember the dialogue? P.S. Breath rite strips didn’t stop me from snoring–but they hurt so much peeling them off my nose–do you suppose they pull out the dirt in your pores like the biore strips they sell to put on your nose and pull out your blackheads? Oooh, gross! Sorry! ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 1999, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-cant-i-hear-myself-snore/2282/10 "1999-08-02T19:32:00Z")
Actually, I think this is related to the column about ducks being half asleep and half awake. Have you guys ever noticed how it’s hard too fall asleep / stay sleeping, when you move to a new house. Many times it’s noise related. I have friends who have moved from very urban areas to rural. They complain it’s too quiet. Others find that moving and living near a busline, where a nightly bus passes every 30 mins is annoying. But after a while we don’t notice it, the brain registers the noice, but filters it away, as not being dangerous. We may sleep with our eyes closed, but the ears are always open, probably as a sentry. When all noises are familiar, we filter them out, including our own snoring. Betcha another person in the room, snoring loudly, would wake you up. ct