The need to “let it out” is so immense right now that pillow “screamability” tests have gone viral on TikTok: People are screaming into pillows to see how well they dampen the sound, garnering millions of video views. But all those regular pillows had better watch out because one entrepreneur has been on a quest to construct the perfect pillow for muffled rage. The result is a scream therapy pillow called the “Shoutlet.” And yes, it took five years to create.
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founder of Powershout, makers of the Shoutlet
What’s so special about this pillow? It’s made of a custom dense foam mixture optimized to reduce sound. It’s also designed to be compressed, so users can roll up the Shoutlet and take it on the go (just in case the TSA line has you really about to blow your top). The outer cover is organic duck canvas, which is a densely woven cotton, so the pillow is soft on the lips but resilient in the face of projectile spit flecks.
It costs $39.99, but is currently on sale for $30.
Before getting into sound muffling pillows, Shoutlet creator Brent Drake, 47, used other methods to help reduce stress and navigate trauma in his own life. He was an avid Wim Hof breathing method practitioner but found that the breathwork protocol and other similar techniques took, in his opinion, too much time to induce a sense of calm. Then he found scream therapy and realized how quickly and effectively it helped ground him.
“A good, intentional shout session takes about 30 seconds for me to achieve clarity,” Drake tells Well+Good.
The quest to make the perfect pillow for shouting
Drake found no good, pillowy tool to help make shouting feel more like a mental health practice, and less like a frightening display that would scare anyone within earshot. First, he tapped a team of Stanford engineers in 2019 to make a voice suppressor. However, after a year of R&D, Drake ultimately determined their solution was too bulky. On a camping trip, he realized a portable pillow (like a camping pillow) was the answer. He got to work cutting out various shapes from a memory foam mattress topper and made his first prototype by hand.
Throughout the next three years, he tested all kinds of materials and sound suppressors. “We probably went through 20 iterations,” Drake says
And yep, all that testing included shouting—using a decibel reader to measure loudness levels. Ultimately, the pillow can now reduce sound by 60 percent!
Why all the intricate mechanics? The overall goal of having a tool like the Shoutlet is to get people more comfortable with letting it out. And while the original target market was people who experience “acute stress,” like parents and students, the Shoutlet has found success with groups Drake didn’t anticipate.
“The largest by far [user group] is the neurodivergent crowd, as [some] have adopted the Shoutlet as a go-to means to release and regulate outbursts and/or actions related to ADHD, autism, tourettes, and/or severe anxiety,” Drake says. However, Drake stresses that the Shoutlet should just be one tool in the mental health toolbox.
Shout, shout, let it all out?
Shouting for emotional release has been going in and out of vogue for decades, with “primal scream therapy” receiving particular notoriety in the 1960s, and modern wellness experiences like The Class (famous for incorporating yelling and grunting in tandem with cardio movement) becoming buzzy.
Studies of shout therapy that back up its efficacy as a mental health method are scant—one study found that “venting” activities, including screaming into a pillow, do not diffuse anger, specifically. However, anyone who’s tried to let out a scream during a moment of stress or frustration knows that it can be a helpful way to process emotions, or even feel downright necessary. And while the need for a specialized pillow might be niche, Drake has high hopes. “I strongly believe [shout therapy] will become a new category in health and wellness once the stigma is broken and the practice becomes not accepted, but expected,” he says.
So….can’t you just use a normal pillow? Or the car? Or, heck, why even try to muffle yourself?
From Drake’s point of view, he just wants to help lessen the stigma around screaming.
“Whether sitting in front of the TV watching sports, at a concert, summiting a mountain top, working through trauma with a therapist, regulating at a stressful event, or simply waking up in the morning and looking to kickstart your day, letting out a deep and meaningful shout to release and regulate your emotions is a game changer,” Drake says.
Come to think of it, having some Shoutlets around during an emotionally charged Superbowl party might be kinda handy.
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