When Your Daughter’s Doll Needs to Wear Hearing Aids Too

A simple way we gave listening devices to a doll using beads.

By

Daisy Bell

Published

March 2022

Updated

January 7, 2024

3 min read

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I like finding new ways to adapt mainstream toys into LSL toys.

This method involves hand sewing a few cute beads!

The end result is a doll with "hearing aids" sewn onto her headband.

Due to the beads, I consider this a 3+ toy, unless I'm carefully supervising.

The end result is a doll with “hearing aids" sewn into her headband.

Materials

Doll Headband
Beads
Needle and Thread
Scissors
Pencil (any pencil is fine!)

Sewing tools including pins, thread, scissors, pen, and fabric bow

1 ~ Picking Out The Doll

I looked for a doll with:

A hard plastic head, and
A hat or a broad headband that easily covers the doll’s ears (adjustable headbands are also available here)

I chose to work with this baby doll, by BABI.

She’s so sweet, and the broad, stretchy headband gives me easy fabric to work with.

Toy doll with pacifier — BABI by Battat– 14-inch Newborn Baby Doll

2 ~ Picking Out The Beads

Next, I looked on Etsy to find plastic beads to use as the hearing aids.

I looked for beads that are:

Plastic or wood (no glass or anything easily shattered)
Wide holes (for safety reasons and to allow me to sew through the holes many times to attach it)
Double-sided, meaning I could use the bead on the right side and left side, without it looking upside down or flat

Ideally, I also wanted:

A hearing aid shape (this could also work for a cochlear implant too!)
Cute color

I was not too worried about the “hearing aids” being super realistic. Children’s toys often rely on the child’s imagination.

I decided on these whales:

I got them from MadisonBeadshop on Etsy, which had tons of cute options.

3 ~ Marking The Placement

Next, I used a pencil to mark the place where I want to sew the first bead.

Important Step - Before marking it, I turned the headband inside out.

So, the "right" side of the headband was touching the doll's head.
While my headband was similar on both sides, this step is crucial if I were using a headband with a clear "right" side.

Then I marked the spot, drawing on the "wrong" side of the fabric (which was still facing outwards).

Pencil marking a position on fabric — Drawing on inside out headband.

I used a chalk fabric pencil to mark the spot, but any pencil would be fine.

4 ~ Positioning The First Bead

Next, I took the headband off the doll to hand-sew the first bead on.

Important Step - I positioned the bead upside down compared to how I want it.

Sewing it upside down means it will be right side up when I flip the inside out headband the right way. This matters more if you're doing a unilateral hearing aid, or different device beads on each side. It also matters more if your headband has a "top" to it.

Basically, positioning in sewing can be complicated! The best way I've found is to test it out before I do too much stitching.

Basically, positioning in sewing can be complicated! The best way I've found is to test it out before I do too much stitching.

Whale bead, fabric, and sewing needle — Inside out headband, upside down bead.

5 ~ Sewing the First Bead

Next I sewed on the first bead.

I would do a stitch near the whale's head, pass through the bead hole, and then do another stitch near the tail. Then, back through the bead hole, for a stitch at the head, and back through for a stitch at the tail. Over and over.

While I don’t plan to use this unsupervised until she’s older, I still want to be careful with small beads, so I did a lot of stitches and pass-throughs. I even re-did it with a second piece of thread, in case one thread snaps.

Since my headband has two layers, I kept all of my stitches on the "wrong side" layer of the headband, so the stitches won't show through when the headband is on the doll.