I love my Samsung Buds Live for that. They are shaped like beans and dont go into your ear but into the "fold" in front of it. Naturally they dont block as much noise as normal buds or headphones but the noise canceling is still good and they feel so much better especially when you are using them for long stretches ie. on long flights or similar. I guess its mostly about letting the inner ear breathe.

I had this same problem... both the AirPods Pro and Max gave me a "pressurized" feeling I wasn't comfortable with. I found the 2nd Gen Pros to be significantly more comfortable, not sure why - your milage may vary.