A fundraising campaign has been launched to help 9-year-old Nikolai (Kolya) Kovalev, who suffers from bilateral hearing loss and needs hearing aids. His family is seeking assistance to cover the cost of the devices, which are essential for his development and education.

Kolya was diagnosed with hearing loss in early childhood and has been attending regular sessions with specialists to manage his condition. He was even able to attend a regular school. However, his hearing has recently worsened, and doctors have recommended hearing aids.

According to audiologist Tatyana Legostaeva from the Yu-MED Hearing Center in St. Petersburg, Kolya requires modern digital multi-channel medium-power hearing aids with pediatric settings, frequency compression, binaural synchronization, and high-resolution noise reduction to compensate for his hearing loss.

Kolya’s mother, Svetlana Kovaleva, explained that her son was born prematurely and experienced a brain hemorrhage, requiring extensive rehabilitation. Despite these challenges, Kolya made progress, learning to sit, walk, and speak. He was diagnosed with hearing loss at one year old and began working with an audiologist and speech therapist. At the age of seven, he entered a regular school and was doing well until recently.

Svetlana noted that Kolya has difficulty understanding speech, particularly high and sibilant sounds, which has made it challenging for him to keep up with his studies. The recommended hearing aids would allow him to hear clearly in all environments, enabling him to fully develop, succeed in school, and communicate with his peers.

The family has already collected some funds, but they are still short of the 448,869 rubles needed to purchase the hearing aids.

The Rusfond charity is collecting donations to help Kolya.