As someone who finds it difficult to fall asleep, I’ve been searching for a comfortable pair of headphones to listen to audiobooks and meditation to aid my sleep. I’ve tried earbuds and sleep bands, but until now, I’ve failed to find anything that is comfortable enough as a side sleeper.
Recently, I had the chance to review the Philips Sleep Headphones, which claims to be the world’s thinnest and “perfect for side-sleepers”, 70% thinner than average buds. I decided to test their claims.
According to Philips, these super-thin sleep buds are designed to fit snugly within the ear and are suitable for all sleeping positions, including side sleepers. The earbud loops over your ear, making it secure even when moving, and comes with five sizes of extra-soft silicone ear tips for a customizable fit.
Equipped with “powerful” biosensors, these headphones detect when you’re falling asleep and automatically fade the audio. Whilst testing, I never detected the point when the audio stopped, which is often a sudden occurrence that can wake me up.
However, with the Philips Sleep Headphones, I didn’t notice they’d switched off until the following morning. Pros:Comfortable fit with various customizable tips to suit different ear shapes and sizes, reports Birmingham Live.
They stay put brilliantly, thanks to the wired design that hooks around your ear, so there’s no need to search for lost earbuds in your bed at night. The Kokoon app is impressive, boasting a library of meditation tracks, sleep coaching, soothing music, and soundscapes.
It offers many features similar to Headspace, albeit on a smaller scale. According to Philips, the sensitive biosensors also monitor your sleep, allowing you to track your patterns in the Kokoon app and improve your sleep habits over time.
The first night was slightly uncomfortable in one ear, on the side I tend to sleep on, but after readjusting and trying the different-sized tips, I’ve found my perfect fit. They stay in place brilliantly, thanks to the wired design which hooks around your ear, meaning you don’t have to go fishing for lost earbuds in your bed in the middle of the night.
The Kokoon app itself is impressive – complete with a library of meditation tracks, sleep coaching, soothing music, and soundscapes. It offers a lot of similar features to Headspace, albeit on a smaller scale.
According to Philips, the sensitive biosensors also monitor your sleep, so you can track your patterns in the Kokoon app and improve your sleep habits over time. The app breaks down your sleep patterns into a colour-coded chart, mapping out times you were awake, in light sleep, REM sleep, deep sleep, and the time you removed your headphones.
It also tracks how long it takes you to fall asleep after putting your headphones on. This is what really impressed me – I would typically spend an hour or so scrolling or listening to an audiobook before dropping off, but according to Kokoon, on my first night using the Philips headphones I fell asleep in just 16 minutes.
I put this down to the ability to layer the soothing background tracks over your other audio. My current Audible obsession is Stephen Fry’s Mythos, which I’ve been listening to nightly. The addition of a subtle soundtrack beneath the audiobook was so soothing.
One thing I would have liked to see would have been a longer battery life – remembering to charge them daily means I occasionally have to switch back to my old earbuds (which tend to fall out in the night as a fidgety sleeper). But I’m a big fan of the sleek hard shell travel case, which protects the delicate buds and wires while on the go.
If you’re obsessed with sound quality, these might not be up to your standards if you’re after crystal-clear sound. But for what most customers want from sleep headphones – a comfortable headset to listen to audiobooks or meditations as they drift off – they do the job and then some.
Currently retailing at £188.99, the Philips Sleep Headphones also include 12 months of free premium access to the Kokoon app, which is also compatible for audio layering with Apple Music, Audible, Spotify, Calm and Headspace.
If you’re still searching for your perfect sleep headphones, consider trying the Musicosy Sleep Headband from Amazon, which combines the function of headphones and an eye mask. While I personally didn’t find it a comfortable fit for my ears, it has more than 11,000 five-star reviews on Amazon from shoppers praising its “comfortable fit”.
