Good open ear headphones for sleeping?

December 18, 2024 9:21 AM

Please recommend open ear headphones for listening to podcasts to put me to sleep - so nothing that lights up, announces low battery, or otherwise interferes with sleep.

Now that the news cycle and zeitgeist will be jam-packed full of horribleness for the next four years, I need podcasts to put me to sleep - so I need comfortable, sleep-inducing headphones.

I used to use cheap Koss headphones, and recently tried cheap Eigsupia Bluetooth headphones. The Bluetooth ones feel good and put me to sleep, but sometimes the power runs down while I'm sleeping, and they announce loudly in my ear that the power is low and they blink very brightly, which is not good for sleeping.

I need them to

* hook onto my ear comfortably and not fall off while I sleep
* NOT light up
* NOT announce low battery, or other information
* ideally, last more than 12 hours on a charge

Please - no recommendations for earpods or anything that goes into my ear. I'm also not interested in those wrap-around "sleep" headphones; I usually only use one ear at a time and would like the option of using these for regular listening during the day.

I may occasionally use them to listen to music, but 95% of the time it'll be podcasts on very low volume to put me to sleep, so amazing music audio quality is not a high priority.

Thank you!

posted by kristi to Shopping (2 answers total)

Not mentioned - have you ever tried an under pillow speaker, if the goal is also to be able to listen to something without waking someone else in the room? I'm not sure if enough sound would transmit through the bed to bother a co-sleeper, but some of them might be cheap enough for a chance?
posted by Kyol at 7:37 PM on December 18, 2024

Also agree with above — I am always told pillow speakers are surprisingly effective for this purpose. Different to putting your phone under your pillow (and safer). Sorry to be answering sideways, though.
posted by lokta at 3:10 AM on December 19, 2024