# Why can't we hear ourselves snore? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 13, 2005, 5:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-cant-we-hear-ourselves-snore/335384 "2005-12-13T05:39:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hilarity_n.suze/32/6223_2.png) [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hilarity_N.Suze)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2005, 5:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-cant-we-hear-ourselves-snore/335384/1 "2005-12-13T05:39:24Z")
And why doesn’t our own snoring wake us up? A lot of people think they don’t snore and their bedmates are just making things up. (I have done a small survey. No one in my small sample has ever heard him- or herself snoring. Some people in my sample vigorously deny that they do snore. In at least two cases I know of, they are wrong.) ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2005, 5:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-cant-we-hear-ourselves-snore/335384/2 "2005-12-13T05:51:02Z")
I woke myself up snoring before, so it’s entirely possible for it to happen. ---
**Author:** ![CynicalGabe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3e96dc/32.png) [@CynicalGabe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CynicalGabe)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2005, 5:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-cant-we-hear-ourselves-snore/335384/3 "2005-12-13T05:55:42Z")
Why can’t we? 'Cause we’re asleep! Unless we wakes ourselves up, which does happen from time to time. ---
**Author:** ![Gut](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8dc957/32.png) [@Gut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gut)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2005, 5:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-cant-we-hear-ourselves-snore/335384/4 "2005-12-13T05:58:44Z")
I have also woken myself with my own snoring. I get a good laugh out of it when it happens. As I’m slowly waking and wondering what all the racket is, the realization that it’s my own snoring just makes me laugh and laugh 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![pkbites](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pkbites/32/204_2.png) [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2005, 5:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-cant-we-hear-ourselves-snore/335384/5 "2005-12-13T05:59:32Z")
> [@Hilarity N. Suze](#): > > And why doesn’t our own snoring wake us up? I’ve woken myself up snoring on several occassions. One time I was wakened by loud snoring and attempted to wake my wife so she would stop snoring…only to realize that I was on a business trip in a hotel room alone. The person who woke me up was…me. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Mordib](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c0e974/32.png) [@Mordib](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mordib)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2005, 8:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-cant-we-hear-ourselves-snore/335384/6 "2005-12-13T08:25:27Z")
if i sleep on my back I snore, if I sleep on my side i dont. the most surreal moments are when ive been told I was snoring when as far as i was aware I wasn’t even properly asleep. I think its like a lot of noises, if you hear it often enough then it just becomes background noise and you can easily sleep through it. ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_Pearse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/richard_pearse/32/13144_2.png) [@Richard\_Pearse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Pearse)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2005, 11:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-cant-we-hear-ourselves-snore/335384/7 "2005-12-13T11:04:17Z")
It is also possible that your snoring has woken you up but you weren’t aware that it was your snoring that did it. I’ve woken myself up snoring and I’ve been woken by my wife telling me I’m snoring. ---
**Author:** ![akohl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/6a8cbe/32.png) [@akohl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/akohl)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2005, 11:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-cant-we-hear-ourselves-snore/335384/8 "2005-12-13T11:24:42Z")
Snoring involves some friction in the throat, chest or mouth which is probably more of a disturbance to sleep than the sound. So if your sleeping deeply enough to not wake up from that, then the sound won’t wake you up either. Another person sleeping in the room, who is not snoring, may be sleeping lightly, or not at all. That’s why they’re gonna notice your snoring! ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2005, 12:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-cant-we-hear-ourselves-snore/335384/9 "2005-12-13T12:44:12Z")
I cannot sleep on my back because my snoring wakes me up.