Tech firms enjoy pitching pricey gadgets to fix everyday annoyances. Sleepbuds from brands like Anker and Ozlo illustrate the point. These tiny engineering feats fit snugly in the ear and let side-sleepers drift off to podcasts, audiobooks, music, or white noise without disturbing a partner. Yet why spend more than $200 on specialized buds when a lower-cost alternative avoids charging, sidesteps Bluetooth dropouts, and lasts longer without battery degradation?

Piercing pillows, true to their name, ease discomfort for those with new ear piercings. They include cutouts that hold the ear clear during sleep to prevent pressure on tender areas. They also prove effective with larger AirPods, Galaxy Buds, Pixel Buds, and similar earbuds already in use.

Numerous piercing pillows exist in assorted shapes, sizes, and firmness levels. I selected the $55 Ear Pillow from Blissbury mainly for its pair of ear cutouts that offer extra positioning choices.

I rotate between two side-sleeping postures. One involves an extended lower arm beneath the pillow and an upper arm draped across it. The other is a relaxed curled stance. Blissbury's design supports both comfortably.

The pillow base sits level with the shoulder, so locating the ear openings at night feels natural. Its cover unzips for washing, and a one-inch foam insert allows simple thickness tweaks.

The cutouts sit just below the center line, helping the openings line up with the ears when the pillow rests against the shoulder. This placement simplifies finding the holes during nighttime movement.

The memory foam matches my taste for a thicker, firmer feel, though it falls short of the firmness in the $59.99 Ikea Klubbsporre model it replaced. Thickness adjusts from four to five inches via the removable insert. The outer cover detaches for cleaning when needed.

The Ear Pillow measures 26 inches long and 15 inches wide, making it narrower than a standard US pillow. A regular pillowcase drapes loosely, which helps by letting extra fabric tuck into the ear openings. I pair it with matching bedding. Blissbury includes foam plugs for the cutouts if the pillow shifts to guest use later.

Sleepbuds may still suit situations where a partner snores. The Soundcore Sleep A30 models handled light to moderate snoring effectively through their masking features. Even recent sleepbuds often force side-sleepers to tweak pillow position carefully to avoid excess pressure or muffled sound.

I relied on Anker's A30 sleepbuds for nearly a year. Early firmware updates resolved most glitches, yet hardware constraints from tiny drivers and batteries limit performance compared with standard earbuds. After testing the Blissbury pillow for a week, the higher spend on specialized buds now seems unnecessary next to the AirPods Pro already owned.

Consumer electronics makers often claim only their products can ease daily friction. In many cases, a simple shaped piece of foam proves sufficient.