Multi-channel Cochlear Implant (Bionic Ear) (1978 - )

Summary

The Multi-channel Cochlear Implant was the first device to allow severe-to-profoundly deaf people to understand speech. Graeme Clark working with engineers created the first prototype fully implantable Multi-channel Cochlear Implant. In addition, as senior surgeon he led the surgical implantation of this prototype receiver-stimulator at the Royal Victorian Eye and Ear Hospital on 1 August 1978. The Multi-channel Cochlear Implant is popularly known as the Bionic Ear.

Details

The concept of the bionic ear dates back to the acceptance of Graeme Clark's PhD thesis in 1969. Clark began this research with the aim of developing a cochlear implant - a device which could be surgically implanted into the cochlea (inner ear). This device would then be used to electrically stimulate the auditory nerves, thereby allowing a deaf person to hear. Clark continued this research from 1970 as the Professor of Otolaryngology at the University of Melbourne. Eventually a prosthesis was developed which could be inserted into the cochlear (inner ear) of a severe-profoundly deaf person.

Between 1974 and 1976, three 'telethons' were aired by Channel 10 to raise funds for research and development into the device. The term 'bionic ear' was coined by Clark in 1974 when the television producers for the 'telethons' asked for a more 'catchy' name for the cochlear implant.

By 1976, the research team led by Clark had produced a benchtop version of the bionic ear. The first cochlear implant to allow a patient to understand speech took place on 1 August 1978. The implant was received by Rod Saunders at the Royal Victorian Eye and Ear Hospital in Melbourne.

The bionic ear was to become a major Australian contribution to the treatment of deafness.

Chronology

1969

Research - Graeme Clark completes preliminary studies on the bionic ear in his PhD thesis

1974 - 1976

Business event - Three telethons aired by Channel 10 to raise funding for the bionic ear.

1976

Research - Benchtop version of the circuit design for cochlear implant completed at the Department of Otolaryngology, University of Melbourne

1978

Research - The first cochlear implant to allow a patient to understand speech was received by Rod Saunders at the Victorian Eye and Ear Hospital

Related entries

Archival resources

National Archives of Australia, National Office

• Professor Graeme Clark - Miniature Bionic Ear, 01 Jan 1948 - 31 Dec 1997, A9984, 1558588; National Archives of Australia, National Office. Details

National Film and Sound Archive of Australia

• Graeme Clark/bionic ear collection [National Film and Sound Archive of Australia], 1956 - 2009; National Film and Sound Archive of Australia. Details

National Library of Australia Manuscript Collection

• Papers of Graeme M. Clark, 1944-2012 [manuscript], 1944 - 2012, MS 8696; National Library of Australia Manuscript Collection. Details

National Museum of Australia

• Graeme Clark, University of Melbourne - Cochlear Limited collection, 1970? - 2005?, http://collectionsearch.nma.gov.au/ce/Graeme%20clark%20university%20of%20melbourne%20cochlear%20limited%20collection; National Museum of Australia. Details
• Presentation plaque incorporating bionic ear circuit board [Peter Howson collection], 1980; National Museum of Australia. Details

Private hands (Clark, G.M.)

• Graeme Milbourne Clark - Records, 1970 - 1988; Private hands (Clark, G.M.). Details

Records Services, The University of Melbourne

• T2005/025: NIH Grant Applications, 1987 - 1998; Professor Graeme Clark; Records Services, The University of Melbourne. Details

The University of Melbourne Archives

• Department of Otolaryngology - Bionic Ear Records, 1949 - 2000, 2004.0043 at U77/46-55; The University of Melbourne Archives. Details
• Official Opening, Department of Ophthalmology and Otolaryngology, Royal Victorian Eye and Ear Hospital, 1971, 2014.0110; The University of Melbourne Archives. Details

Published resources

Books

• Clark, Graeme Milbourne, Cochlear implants: Fundamentals and Applications (New York: Springer Verlag, 2003), 830 pp. Details
• Epstein, June, The Story of the Bionic Ear (Hyland House, 1989). Details
• Worthing, Mark, Graeme Clark: The Man Who Invented the Bionic Ear (Crows Nest: Allen & Unwin, 2015), 221 pp. Details

Journal Articles

• Chung, King, 'From the Editor', Trends in Amplification, 10 (4) (2006), 173-174, http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4111376/. Details
• Clark, G.M.; Black, R.C.; Forster I.C.; Patrick, J.F.; Tong, Y.C., 'Design Criteria of a Multiple-electrode Cochlear Implant Hearing Prosthesis', Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 63 (1978), 631-633. http://hdl.handle.net/11343/28713. Details

Resources

• International Application Published Under the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT). 59812/80: Speech Processor [Specification AU-A], This is a digital copy of documents including an international application (PCT), specifications and an international search report for a patent on a "speech processor". The publication date of 11 December 1980 refers to the international publication date recorded on the application., World Intellectual Property Organization: International Bureau, 11 December. http://pericles.ipaustralia.gov.au/ols/auspat/pdfSource.do?fileQuery=[Wkh%40ir{%29ilohqdph%40DX4%3C%3B338%3C%3B45D31sgi%29Wkh%40od}|. Details
• The Royal Victorian Eye and Ear Hospital, The Royal Victorian Eye and Ear Hospital, 2011, http://www.eyeandear.org.au/. Details
• Australian Government, National Archives of Australia, Research - Health and food - Professor Graeme Clark and his invention, the Bionic Ear, 1984, Commonwealth of Australia, National Archives of Australia, 2016, http://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/ViewImage.aspx?B=11899160. Details
• Bionic Ear: Fact Sheet, Bionics Institute, 2016, http://www.bionicsinstitute.org/publications/Documents/FactSheet_BionicEar.pdf. Details
• 'Multi-channel Cochlear Implant (Bionic Ear) (19780801-)', Trove, National Library of Australia, 2009, https://nla.gov.au/nla.party-1708145. Details
• Bionic Ear Prototype, National Museum of Australia, 2015, http://www.nma.gov.au/collections/highlights/bionic-ear-prototype. Details

Resource Sections

• O'Leary, Stephen, 'Interview with Professor Graeme Clark', in Interviews with Australian scientists, Australian Academy of Science, 2011, https://www.science.org.au/learning/general-audience/history/interviews-australian-scientists/professor-graeme-clark. Details
• Tully, Helen, 'Graeme Clark's Gift to the World [blog post]', in NFSA Blog, National Film and Sound Archive of Australia website, This blog post documents the life of Graeme Clark and his work on the bionic ear, and includes five videos from the collection held by the National Film and Sound Archive., National Film and Sound Archive of Australia, Commonwealth of Australia, 2015, http://nfsa.gov.au/blog/2013/09/20/graeme-clarks-gift-world/. Details

Theses

• Clark, Graeme M., 'Middle ear and neural mechanisms in hearing and in the management of deafness [manuscript]', The University of Sydney. Carbon typescript. 2 volumes., PhD thesis, 1969. http://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Record/1194830. Details