Active noise cancellation does not provide noise reduction and active noise cancellation headphones generally don't have official NRRs.
Closed headphones or foam ear plugs would be better than earbuds with ANC. People have tried to create informal amateur NRR ratings for many consumer headphones, but since it's your only pair of ears in my opinion it makes sense to go for officially rated hearing protection.
If you have sensitive ears you can tell ANC works by playing audio and that it's far from perfect. In very loud environments there's also the risk that a damaged earbud will squeal or feedback, disabling noise protection and exposing your ear to the full brunt of the loud noise.
Apple provides SNR values for ANC on the APP3 https://regulatoryinfo.apple.com/hearingprotection/details/6...
> foam ear plugs
I tried them for several weeks, everyday and ended up with annoying ear infections. Also they are quite uncomfortable to wear when sleeping.