Sarah Smith: Why we set up the Pimp My Hearing Aids / Cochlear Implants Facebook group (and online shops!)

Posted on August 5, 2015 by



During December 2011 I was on the NDCS Facebook page looking at some of the posts and found a post from Ni Gallant who had just moved over to Adult services and had been given beige hearing aids. Ni had coloured ones while she was under child services.

Ni posted on the page asking how she could change the look without damaging them (under the NHS we are not able to do anything permanent on them) a lovely lady called Ellie posted that she used nail foils on her daughter’s hearing aids.

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We all took this on with enthusiasm and kind of over took the NDCS page, so I decided to start up a group so that we could share ideas and show others how to do it. So in June 2012 the group – Pimp My Hearing Aids / Cochlear Implants – UK was started.

We are just celebrating our 3rd Birthday and the group has gone from only 20 members to over 3,700 who regularly post and show us what they are up too, which are not only from the UK but all over the world. We have Audiologists, Teachers of the Deaf, Hearing aid & CI Companies join the group and are very much behind what we do.

The idea of the group is to help children and adults alike that wearing Hearing Aids & CI’s are cool and not to hide them. Making them as visible as possible helps others realise that the person is D/deaf. Pimping Hearing aids builds confidence and many kids and adults now wear their aids because they’re proud of them. It’s about being proud of your identity and I’m not sure the other groups get that like we do.

As Co-Founder of Pimp My Hearing Aids / Cochlear Implants – UK we welcome anyone and not only do we pimp hearing aids but we also do the accessories!

While we want everyone to have fun, our first and foremost thought is that nothing is done permanently on any UK NHS supplied Hearing Aids & CI’s and you can find all the Do’s and Don’ts over on the Facebook page!

While we were finding out about different things to help show them off as a group we found that we could create charms which are similar to Tube Riders (an American company who make charms).Untitled2

In November 2012 Tubetastic Pimps was established and was the first business in the UK to offer charms. I post worldwide and regularly send out to the USA and Australia etc. In fact Tubetastic Pimps has hit 20 countries.

Tubetastic Pimps was created to add extra Pimp to Hearing Aids & CI’s – Tubetastic Pimps has a shop on Etsy which not only does the charms but does Pouches to store all your Hearing Aid & CI stuff, Safety Clips to help keep them secure and Dangles, which are just like earrings without the danger of them getting ripped out from ears, which make them perfect for kids! I love creating every single item and helping everyone be proud of wearing hearing aids & CI’s.

Rainbow Tubes was also started to help those who wanted more than just pimped hearing aids and charms they supply tubing, nail foils, stickers etc.  The nail foils and stickers have been checked to make sure they are safe for hearing aids.

So make sure you check them out!

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Posted in: sarah smith