In the distractor-induced deafness paradigm, an inhibitory process of selective attention leads to a reduced detection rate when the distractors have the same properties as the following target. This inhibitory influence seems to be affected by neuromodulation with caffeine or by total sleep deprivation, but not by tDCS. In addition to detection rate, missed cue error rate also appears to be affected by neuromodulation: Real tDCS led to lower error rates in trials with six distractors compared with sham stimulation, whereas caffeine led to comparable effects in trials without distractors. In contrast, a night of total sleep deprivation led to higher error rates in trials with six distractors. These effects might be explained by a supportive influence of tDCS and caffeine and a hindering influence of sleep deprivation on selective attention.