Unfortunately, a cushion slowing a rubber ball is a little different than what a cushion does on the outside of the skull with a very soft, vascularized brain inside surrounded by a little bit of fluid. I'm skeptical of how effective these headbands are given what I know about brain injury and coup contracoup injuries. It is the sudden change in being completely stationary to movement that causes the brain to "bounce" against the interior of the skull. And then when the neck (or worse, the ground or another object) causes the head to stop moving again, it bounces against the other side.
Take a look at this video to see how this works.
So although it is true that if you slow down the object that is coming at your head, there will be less coup and contracoup forces, the amount a 1/8 inch cushion ON THE OUTSIDE slows down an elbow/head or a goalpost may not be very much. The sudden impact will still move the brain inside of its bony cavity and "bounce" it against the sides. Will it move less? I think that is up for debate -- but for now these companies are making a killing from all the headbands.
What we need is a 1/8 inch cushion to put INSIDE of the skull around the brain -- now that would work.