With the in-ear phones I do have to have some music on for complete sound block. They don't power up like noise canceling ones, they seal your ear canal like an earplug. They are basically a good fitting earplug with a speaker in it. If the speaker is not playing something it is like an earplug with a small hole in it. They will block much of the noise without music, but not all. I can't sleep without music on anyway, so the MP3 player is going all the time. I would think white noise would be good too.