Yeah, this seems like a way overengineered solution.

I moved to the US 15 years ago and it was too noisey for me to sleep well (fire trucks, cars, etc), but ear plugs solved the problem and are portable to other places you might need to sleep.

I recommend these: Mack's Pillow Soft Silicone Earplugs. Can be found on Amazon. Block out A LOT of noise.

They’re little putty molds that you shape to fit your ear.

I also rip them in half before molding so I get 2 ear plugs from 1 putty.

Quies foamies. After wearing military issue 3M foamies around jet engines for years, I bought some of these Quies and were very surprised to discover that they could be made so comfortable, and also long lasting.

Wax-style earplugs like you describe are the only kind that a friend of mine uses. The foam ones never fit them.