Fashionable Hearing Aids
I came across a post this morning, The Shame of Wearing Hearing Aids and it brought back memories. I was one of those kids who hid a hearing aid under long hair. It wasn’t until I was in college that I finally wore my hair up and my hearing aid perched for all to see. Kinda sad, eh? All those years spent trying to hide something that was basically a part of me– except I didn’t want any part of it.
I decided to raise my kids with a different attitude about their hearing aids. From the start, we went with brightly-colored earmolds with swirls and glitter. I even joined my daughter in getting matching glitter earmolds. I’m pretty sure I saw my audiologist hold back a gulp when I asked for the blue with glitter when she squeezed the earmold goop into my ear.
So far, no one has had the guts to tell me that I look foolish sporting glitter at my age.
Despite my years of preaching about being proud of those two pieces of technology on their ears, my kids had minds of their own– each of them have made decisions about color vs. minimal color. My 12-year-old recently decided that he had enough of the wild colors and chose clear earmolds at the last fitting. After years of wearing boring beige hearing aids, the oldest went for a slick black pair with clear earmolds. It was now my daughter’s turn for new hearing aids and we sat down to go over the colors for a new pair of hearing aids. Staring at the hearing aid website, I was floored at the color choices. When I was growing up, it was pretty much beige and black as the choices.
I was pretty sure she was going to pick out something cool.
“Look, there’s zebra and giraffe patterns!” I exclaimed. “And look at this cool blue and whoa– that purple! Oh and look–they have this cool see-through hearing aid!”
She picked beige.
Yes, boring, typical, oh-so-ordinary… beige.
“Mom, I’m going to be wearing these hearing aids for a couple of years, maybe even into adulthood,” she said. “Do you really think I want to go to prom with a giraffe pattern or purple– what if it doesn’t match my dress? Besides, I can change my earmold colors anytime I want.”
Yeah, she’s got a point there. Earmolds are $125 a pop. Hearing aids are nearly five grand.
“The beige looks nice,” I said.
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I have a friend with the see through hearing aids & very inconspicuous ear molds (because he’s 50). the see through ones are cool and wouldn’t interfere with a dress. Said friend also has a purple wheelchair frame.
Me, I have a pair of AFOs (leg braces) that are supposed to look like a pair of jeans. They mostly do. Even though I’m only 24, when I was little and had to wear them every day for years all they had was white plastic with beige straps. Now they have everything. I didn’t care that I was 19 when I got them and that I might have to wear them to a real job, if you have to have something you might as well go all out and have some fun. You should see the knee socks I have to go with them. Besides, if I ever have to look uber professional I’ll wear pants. They’ll still make me happy even if I have to “hide” them.
Doesn’t Glenda’s have butterflys?
In India , we have still no choice. We get skin colored ones.But it must be exciting to have such choices.
We went with bronze BTE cases, but have always gotten the bright blue/white earmolds. I know one of these days Nolan’s going to switch up the color selection on us (who knows what he’ll choose, lol). When the time comes for new hearing aids, I’m vying for the gunmetal silver ones. They just look cool. Of course, by then Nolan will be entering elementary school and will have his own opinion!
I love the red/white/blue earmolds in the picture- very cute! And I would totally go for the glitter if I was selecting earmolds- you’re never too old for glitter!
Karen, I’m 5 years older than you, and I wear red glitter earmolds. And, a different pair of TubeRiders every day. Sometimes I’ll take one off & give it to a little kid. Or another adult!
My buddy Katie-louise Bailey, over in Derby, England not only flaunts her CI, she also sometimes sticks a beer bottlecap on her magnet! I’ll send a Facebook friend suggestion between you two ladies.
By the way, if you want to decorate your BTE hearing aid case, don’t use nail lacquer: The solvents in it will soften the plastic, changing the acoustic characteristics & may even lead to feedback.
It also chips off.
Instead, use a paint marker, that you can buy in art supply stores. Silver & Gold make for nice highlights.
Guess what? I just checked, and Katie-louise is already on your (Karen’s) Facebook friend list!
Check out this photo of K-L while out partying with friends in a local pub.
My zons are BOR-RING “Champagne” which isn’t as wonderfully intoxicating as it sounds. “Champagne”=”Boring Beige on Steroids.”
I’ve considered painting the housing with nail color. I’m glad I read that tip above before I did that.
My zons are BOR-RING “Champagne” which isn’t as wonderfully intoxicating as it sounds. “Champagne”=”Boring Beige on Steroids.”
I’ve considered painting the BTE housing with nail color. I’m glad I read that tip above before I did that.
Hi Karen,
It’s funny, isn’t it? These kids have had color options their entire lives. I just got my first new pair of aids in ten years. I was also floored by all the new patterns and designs. WAY COOL! I’ve been wearing boring beige for thirty years. I guess that’s why I decided to go with zebra this time. Zebra goes with everything anyway, right? How can you go wrong with black and white? But I respect your daughter’s decision. She sounds practical and I like that in a young person. I’m getting new molds in a couple weeks and plan to go with blue or lavendar. Haven’t decided which yet.
I’m stuck right now with the beige hearing and and the white ear mold.
This past summer I was volunteering at a family camp for deaf and hard of hearing kids and their parents, and there were these twins there, and I’m telling ya I was wayyy jealous of their purple hearing aids with matching purple sparkly ear molds! Made me wish that was available when I was younger!
Hey,
your daughter sounds like she wants something more discreet… check out Starky (or Starkey) hearing aids… very discreet! My sponsor gave me one and I love it! I wear it snowboarding (waterproof and doesn’t fall off!) and it fits under my helmet
Can’t even see it!!
Cheryl, sounds like you’re having a lot of fun with your AFOs–that’s how it should be! And yes, Glenda has butterflies on hers!
Ruchi, you remind me to be thankful. Wonder if you can get a hold of some colorful stickers and dress up those hearing aids!
Hey Leah, this reminds me of the time my oldest kiddo was four and he thought purple was soooo cool and considered that color. Then he quickly changed his mind and went with blue and white.
Dan, red glitter is next on my list. I’m thinking red glitter with zebra…
Dory, at least there are a lot of fun ways to dress up hearing aids and implants nowadays– paint markers, stickers, tube riders…
Kim, you must be my twin– zebra is on my mind for my next pair!
Charlotte–you’re never too old for color! When I’m a Grandma, I plan to still have the funkiest hearing aids in town!
Lauren–checked out your blog– what a cool snowboarder you are!
I wear hearing aids and I wear the behind the ear hearing aids Having a hearing loss is hard but I’m so thankful that I have hearing aids
How sad is it: my first thought was “Can I get them in green and gold, Packer colors?” LOL
My husband is a gator fan and we have always gotten our son orange and blue swirl ear molds. When he was up for new aids last year we got these beautiful blue phonak Unas. It’s such a beautiful blue.