Tafsir Ibn Abbas: Al-Kahf, Ayah 11

فَضَرَبْنَا عَلَىٰٓ ءَاذَانِهِمْ فِى ٱلْكَهْفِ سِنِينَ عَدَدًۭا

So We cast [a cover of sleep] over their ears within the cave for a number of years.

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Ibn Abbas Commentary

(Then We sealed up their hearing) We cast sleep over them, such that they slept (in the Cave for a number of years) 309 years.

Scholars offer complementary perspectives

So We smote their ears that is We made them sleep in the Cave for several years for a fixed number of years.

While we were with the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) in the cave, the rest of the hadith is the same as the one narrated above.