Tech companies love to sell us expensive gadgets to solve all of life’s little problems. Sleepbuds sold by the likes of Anker and Ozlo are a good example. These little marvels of engineering sit in the ear, and allow side sleepers to fall asleep listening to podcasts, audiobooks, music, or white noise without disturbing their partners. But why pay over $200 for a second pair of premium buds when you can spend a fraction of that on a product that doesn’t need charging, never loses its Bluetooth connection, and won’t need to be replaced a few years after the battery dies?
Piercing pillows, as the name suggests, promise pain relief for anyone with a newly pierced ear. They include cutouts that stabilize the ear while sleeping, to avoid putting pressure on the sensitive tissue. I’m here to tell you that they also work great with the blue AirPods, Galaxy Buds, Pixel Buds, and any other modern earbuds you might already have.
There are plenty of pillowcases to choose from in a variety of shapes, sizes, and thicknesses. I bought the $55 Ear Pillow from Blissbury for a few reasons, primarily because it has two ear cutouts for more flexibility.
I sleep on two sides. One I like to call the approval cuddle, where my lower arm is fully extended under one side of the pillow while my upper arm is snuggled up against the other side. The second is simply the unborn fetus. The Blissbury piercing pillow takes both of these positions well.
I also like that the cutouts fall just below the midline which allows the holes to naturally align with my ears when the pillow is placed high on my shoulder. That makes the earholes easier to find when tossing and turning at night.
The memory foam used in the Ear Pillow also fits my preference for a thick, firm pillow — though I wish it was as firm as the $59.99 Ikea Klubbsporre pillow you’re getting. The size of the Blissbury can be adjusted between 4 and 5 inches using a removable insert. The outer cover of the Ear Cushion can be removed and washed as needed.
The Ear Pillow is 26 inches (66cm) long and 15 inches (38cm) wide, making it slightly smaller than a standard US pillow. That means the Standard pillow will move less, which is good because more fabric can be added to the ears. For mine, I use a pillowcase that matches my pajamas because I’ve been told that’s what adults do. Blissbury sends a foam pillow to fill the holes in case the Ear Pillow is downgraded to a guest pillow.
I’ve been a dedicated user of Anker’s A30 sleepbuds for almost a year. After a rough start, a series of firmware updates fixed many of the early problems. But no amount of software can overcome the inherent limitations of devices that require much smaller drivers and batteries than conventional earbuds. Having spent a week with the Blissbury pillow, I now feel like a fool for spending 4x the money on the AirPods Pro earbuds I already had.
The makers of consumer electronics would have us believe that they are the only ones who can eliminate the friction of modern life. But sometimes, what you really need is an oddly shaped piece of foam.
All photos by Thomas Ricker / The Verge
