Donut pillows : An audiophile's best friend for tinnitus?

[Sean de Silva]

Like many of us here, years of enjoying loud music as well as exposure to other loud sounds have caught up with me. The nighttime tinnitus can be brutal.
This simple workaround works for me. I recently found a cheap solution that has drastically helped me sleep : a specialized ear pillow. It is a small rectangular cushion with a hole right in the center. amazon link
Why it works : Standard pillows seal the ear, blocking room noise and making the ringing sound louder. The hole keeps your ear canal open to ambient sounds that mask the tinnitus, while stopping that annoying thumping pulse sound and explosions. It also stops IEMs from being painfully jammed into your ear ( for those who sleep to music. )
It’s a massive quality-of-life upgrade so I wanted to share this tweak to help fellow audiophiles get some proper rest.

 

[Multicore]

Pro tip: make your amazon link's URL visible and clear out the cruft.

1. Some of us are leery of clicking links. Want to look at the URL first.
2. Some people post amazon links with affiliate tags in the URL, which count as advertising here at ASR.
3. To check if your link contains affiliate tags I had to look carefully through all this

   https://www.amazon.in/FOVERA-Piercing-Sleepers-Inflammation-Microfiber/dp/B0G1Z26ZHZ/ref=sr_1_1_sspa
   ?crid=23B2KEWFF5F9H
   &dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.WBk9bA_UVCwvQE-ls7oSAqkLRdlzxYnR-CIPPnQO16PLk3b6Y0o6amzCCfUfFuZNFYtxe8b83Qh2By1lw0ao4lSyKPq2ioxBv6nJ1IhcAgxreS85ECGAspgBf9mzhMjU-v80wRMx3hbNLFEeynceKZ0uURfleGRiqHc0SIhXxOAGtsR3kZ-oAXsbKFD0wyUeGg449l1hcs96nzAq93MYKxWjk4Yc5uVKB3JaO99W-9Z4FojX4axejPsvMElozorHElmpMKmpvFTZQn9Qu-HcnUTqR_ynEcGT3agRIe3cVI0.pkvGlHraEBXHWLtsmd2M8pxIma_ZCNrMwrWbDrvkp2I
   &dib_tag=se
   &keywords=ear+pillow
   &qid=1784106881
   &sprefix=ear+pillo%2Caps%2C236
   &sr=8-1-spons
   &aref=jA9e868oJv
   &sp_csd=d2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9hdGY
   &psc=1

But this URL is sufficient https://www.amazon.in/FOVERA-Piercing-Sleepers-Inflammation-Microfiber/dp/B0G1Z26ZHZ

Even this is enough https://www.amazon.in/dp/B0G1Z26ZHZ although there is some value to including the product title slug. I usually use the shortest version.

With that URL you can then post the link like this https://www.amazon.in/dp/B0G1Z26ZHZ which is as simple as pasting its URL as inline text in your paragraph.

Anyway, thank you for sharing your tinnitus-related experience. ASR doesn't have an obvious place to put all things tinnitus. There are a few threads including one I started. Perhaps a sub category @RickS ? I would tag Amir but I know he only suffers from his tinnitus when we mention it :'(

 

[jdbob]

Or for the US link: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09W25HQRH

 

[respice finem]

The right thread for this (IMHO) is the snake oil thread

 

[ahofer]

My curiosity about this just had a head-on collision with the $649 price for this small simple pillow.

You just don’t know how much slam and musicality this pillow has. You have to use it for at least a month to break it in, but veils will fall from your ears.

 

[12man]

Rupee

 

[Apesbrain]

My curiosity about this just had a head-on collision with the $649 price for this small simple pillow.

US$15 on Amazon.

 

[Multicore]

Or make your own. Plenty of DIYers on ASR accomplish more sophisticated projects than this.

 

[Multicore]

The right thread for this (IMHO) is the snake oil thread

I won't mind what you call it if reducing pressure on my bad ear in bed has a benefit.

 

[respice finem]

I won't mind what you call it if reducing pressure on my bad ear in bed has a benefit.

Amazon.de : donut kissen ohr

 

[Multicore]

Or for the US link: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09W25HQRH

Top linking there jdbob!

Or try these search terms: Ear Piercing Pillow for Side Sleepers

Hilarious unexpected double meaning of "ear piercing" there. That's how my wife and dogs describe of 9.2 kHz at 69 dB SPL.

 

[MattHooper]

Interesting product!

I used to be a side sleeper. I miss being a side sleeper!

Anyway… I have extremely loud tinnitus but funny enough I generally don’t have trouble with my ear being blocked, trying to sleep. In fact, every single night I put an earplugs at one point or another. Strangely there is a calming effect that seems to mostly override the distress from the ringing.

 

[HalSF]

US$15 on Amazon.

I apologize for my inaccurate price post, I missed that the link was for a non-dollar denomination.

 

[Apesbrain]

As little as we understand about tinnitus, scientific evidence points toward damage of the sensory hair cells along the cochlea as the root. I don't see how a pillow could help with that, except perhaps psychosomatically, which is fine but unpredictable.

 

[MattHooper]

As little as we understand about tinnitus, scientific evidence points toward damage of the sensory hair cells along the cochlea as the root. I don't see how a pillow could help with that, except perhaps psychosomatically, which is fine but unpredictable.

The suggestion isn’t that it’s something that treats or cures tinnitus itself. Rather when you have tinnitus and you plug your ear you typically hear the ringing as loud since you’ve blocked outside sounds from masking the ringing. So typically if your side sleeper the ear against the pillow is being blocked and the tinnitus sounds more prominent in that ear. Even if you happen to have a white noise generator in your room (as I do), the ear that is against the pillow gets blocked from that masking sound. This pillow supposedly stops that ear blocking effect.

 

[aikofan]

Can I sit on it?

 

[RayDunzl]

It’s a massive quality-of-life upgrade