Music is one way to let us sleep easier or faster. Take me for example. I can’t sleep very well in long haul flights until I try doing it with my earplugs on. The music made all the difference as I was able to fall asleep pretty easily although it was not a deep sleep. Nevertheless, I love this idea but there was only problem. It wasn’t too comfortable wearing the earphone to sleep. This is when I stumble upon the pillow speaker product and love them. If you face the same problem as me and want to try these pillow with speakers built in inside, below are some of the best options for the money.
Editor Choice: Best under pillow speaker with volume control
To get straight to the point, the Pillowsonice under pillow speaker is one of the cheapest and best rated product to choose from. I personally bought one of these and have no regrets. The volume is not too loud but is audible enough to lure you to sleep. I have read reviews saying that they can’t hear stuff like talk shows properly but that is missing the point. This device is not meant to be a high quality stereo system. It is suppose to act as a form of a lullaby to put you to sleep. The last thing you want to have it so loud and crystal clear that you end being awake due to the music playing. Worse if it wakes up your partner.
The shape and material of the speaker is such that you wouldn’t feel a bulge when you placed this under the pillow. That is important since you don’t want to feel uncomfortable using it.
However, the best thing I love relative to other systems is how secure the connections stay connected, especially when you have use the longer wiring. Other similar products I tried before always have a tendency to have the wire being pulled out and that disrupts the experience pretty badly.
Having said all the positives, there are something that I wished was there. The obvious one is of course connectivity. This is not a bluetooth or wireless pillow speaker as you need to connect the wire to any audio devices like iphone or radio. In this age of connectivity, this feels a bit antiqued. Unfortunately, almost all of the pillow speaker brands I have come across has this limitation as well.
Only one model of pillow speaker has bluetooth function and I shall review it below
Car pillow with speaker build in
This Hapow car pillow has a bluetooth speaker attached at the side where the music can be broadcast. The connectivity is great as you can pair it easily with your device to stream the music you want. The speakers are pretty loud compared to the Pillowsonic version although there is volume control for you to adjust it.
The pillow itself is pretty comfortable since it is a memory foam pillow speaker. However, since this is meant for use in the car, I am not sure how it will feel if you use it overnight as a normal pillow.
The pillow however is not self powered. You need to connect it via a cable to a usb power source like a power bank. This is pretty inconvenient especially when you want it to use it in the bedroom. I imagine placing a power bank beside your bed might be a bit strange and non practical but I have not tried it myself.
Does listening music help you sleep
Using music to sleep is not a phenomenon that is unique to me and a handful of others. On popular music streaming service Spotify, there are such things called “sleep” playlists. These playlists are created by its users to, you guess it, when they want to sleep. In fact, if you think about lullaby, it is actually using music to make babies fall asleep and show that music is actually a natural sleeping aid.
According to Lyz Cooper of the British Academy of Sound Therapy, there is an ideal spectrum of music that is best suited for sleeping. In particular, music with 60 beats per min tend to help listeners to relax and achieve a sleepy state. In addition, music with no words tend to be more effective at enabling us to sleep.
Cooper also further elaborated that the repetitive pattern of the music tend to relax us. It also triggers feel good emotions in our brain that leads to a better sleeping state.
Conclusion
My recommendation for the best pillow speaker is the one from PillowSonic. It plays the right volume and is comfortable under the pillow. Although you need to connect it via cables rather than wireless or bluetooth, it is not as inconvenient as it sounds.