Super Cool Hearing Aids for Super Kids

Given the power of peer pressure, kids these days can be really self-conscious about the way they look. So any child who needs a hearing aid is certainly not going to want to wear it for fear of drawing unwanted attention to himself. However, a mom in Britain has designed a line of superhero and toy-themed hearing aids that just about any kid would be wild to wear.

Called Lugs, these cochlear implant hearing aids in kids’ sizes are enhanced with designs featuring Spiderman, Batman, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and characters from popular kids films like Toy Story. You can even get them with the insignia of your favorite English Football team. The hearing aids have become so popular that the Lugs site recently featured a notice saying they were going offline for a short period “due to an extremely high volume of orders.”

In the comments section of a news article about Lugs, an older hearing aid wearer summed up the innovation really well: “As a hearing aid wearer, I was thrilled when they started coming in different colors. Even with their limitations, there is no reason they should have to look like some sort of medical appliance, any more than we would accept eyeglasses that were all flesh-colored plastic with no style. Making them cool for kids will help eliminate any stigma that they have among young people, just as there are now companies marketing clip-on shells for hearing aids that turn them into jewelry for women. I got my last pair in metallic silver and black for a cyborg look.”