Mother develops custom designed hearing-aids for kids inspired by her son

Lugs' story began March 17, 2011, when Ivermee's son Freddie was born with congenital cytomegalovirus, which left him "profoundly deaf in one ear and moderately to severely deaf in the other," according to the Lugs website. He was fitted for a hearing aid for one ear when he was just 2 months old.

"We were expecting him to be completely deaf as the infection he had causes profound hearing loss so we felt blessed he had some hearing," Ivermee said.

About a month before his third birthday, Freddie was fitted with a cochlear implant for the other, more profoundly deaf ear. Luckily for his family, he embraced the new equipment, but his mother realized not every child might react the same way.

"I knew I had to research what was out there to decorate with and create something myself," Ivermee said. "I found plenty of great pages showing how people decorate their own kits and other mums selling bits to jazz devices up but there were no pre-made kits that were simple to use and had everything you needed to fully decorate your hearing device. So after a lot of trial and error we finally came up with Lugs."

Sarah recalled that the first model she made for Freddie involved a racing car — because he loves to watch her husband, Jamie, race one on weekends — and said one of Freddie's favorite Lugs is Batman-themed.

According to the website, the overall design is so appealing, even Freddie's 2-year-old brother, Charlie, wants to wear Lugs, even though he's not deaf himself.

More designs are on the way, but in the meantime, Ivermee wants children who sport them to do so with confidence.

"We hope that Lugs can help your child to love their device," the website reads, "and wear them with pride."

The prices go from £8.99 to £14.99.

More info: http://www.mylugs.co.uk/

Adapted from: http://on.today.com/1dOqJKt