Forget expensive sleepbuds. Buy this pillow instead

Tech companies emotion to waste america costly gadgets to lick each of life’s small problems. Sleepbuds sold by the likes of Anker and Ozlo are a bully example. These miniature marvels of engineering beryllium flush successful the ear, and let side-sleepers to doze disconnected listening to podcasts, audiobooks, music, aliases achromatic sound without annoying their partner. But why salary complete $200 for a 2nd brace of highly specialized buds erstwhile you tin walk a fraction of that for a merchandise that ne'er needs charging, ne'er loses its Bluetooth connection, and won’t request replacing successful a fewer years aft the artillery wears out?

Piercing pillows, arsenic the sanction suggests, committedness symptom alleviation for anyone pinch a freshly pierced ear. They characteristic cutouts that suspend the receptor while sleeping, to debar putting unit connected the delicate tissue. I’m present to show you that they besides activity awesome pinch bulbous AirPods, Galaxy Buds, Pixel Buds, and immoderate different modern earbuds you mightiness already own.

There are dozens of piercing pillows to take from successful a wide assortment of shapes, sizes, and firmness. I bought the $55 Ear Pillow from Blissbury for a fewer reasons, chiefly because it has 2 receptor cutouts for added flexibility.

I slumber successful 2 broadside positions. One I for illustration to telephone the authoritarian cuddle, wherever my bottommost limb is afloat extended nether 1 broadside of the pillow while my apical limb strangles the different side. The 2nd is conscionable an unsprung fetal position. Blissbury’s piercing pillow accommodates some positions nicely.

I besides for illustration that the cutouts autumn conscionable beneath the centerline allowing the holes to align people pinch my ears erstwhile the pillow is nestled up against my shoulder. That makes the earholes comparatively easy to find erstwhile tossing and turning astatine night.

The representation foam utilized successful the Ear Pillow besides suits my penchant for a comparatively thick, patient pillow — though I do wish it was arsenic patient arsenic the $59.99 Ikea Klubbsporre pillow it replaces. The Blissbury’s thickness is adjustable betwixt 4 and 5 inches utilizing a removable insert. The outer screen of the Ear Pillow tin beryllium removed and washed arsenic required.

The Ear Pillow is 26 inches (66cm) agelong and 15 inches (38cm) wide, which makes it somewhat narrower than a US Standard pillow. That intends a Standard pillowcase will sag a bit, which is bully because the other cloth tin beryllium stuffed into the earholes. I usage excavation pinch a pillowcase that matches my bedding because I’ve been told that’s what full-grown adults do. Blissbury ships the pillow pinch foam fillers for the holes successful lawsuit the Ear Pillow ever gets demoted to a impermanent pillow.

Sleepbuds mightiness still beryllium the measurement to spell if your partner snores, however. I recovered the Soundcore Sleep A30’s masking algorithms to beryllium very effective astatine canceling retired ray to mean snoring. Just cognize that moreover the latest sleepbuds often require side-sleepers to set their pillows just so to make judge the unit isn’t excessively acute and the audio isn’t muffled.

I’ve been a dedicated personification of Anker’s A30 sleepbuds for almost a year. After a bumpy start, a flurry of firmware updates corrected astir of the early issues. But there’s nary magnitude of package that tin flooded the inherent limits of devices that require drivers and batteries that are overmuch smaller than accepted earbuds. Having spent a week pinch the Blissbury pillow, I now consciousness silly for spending 4x the magnitude connected earbuds that are inferior to the AirPods Pro I already owned.

The makers of user electronics would emotion for america to judge that only they tin soft retired the clash of modern life. But sometimes, each you really request is an oddly shaped portion of foam.

All photos by Thomas Ricker / The Verge