By Fiona MacDonald

Ask someone what they couldn’t live without and music is often near the top of the list.

I struggle to imagine a world without sound. A world without the option to listen to The Kinks on repeat for hours when I’m working is an unbearable thought!

But the more I imagine being sound-impaired, I realise it’s less the sounds themselves I’d miss and more the interactions with people – when you’re deaf you’re partially cut off from everyone around you. To imagine that a Bionic ear, no bigger than a matchbox, can reconnect the deaf and hearing-impaired with the world of sound and verbal communication is mind blowing.

When I first heard about the bionic ear as a child, I thought it was some kind of awesome robotic satellite that popped out (”go go gadget ear!”) and magnified sound, sort of like a high tech ear trumpet.

But in reality, it’s a lot cooler.

The cochlear implant bypasses the cells that are damaged and directly stimulates that nerves that carry sound to the brain. Some of these nerves may have died since a patient became deaf, which is why the sound produced by the bionic ear isn’t perfect, but there is a lot of research going into improving and updating the device.

For example, there is this cool function that allows people to listen only to their iPod and ignore all external sound.  It’s a little bit ‘Six Million Dollar Man’.

Professor Graeme Clark invented the first bionic ear around 30 years ago. Since then more than 100,000 people have received the implants – surely one of Australia’s proudest scientific achievements.

I’m a Melbourne-dweller, otherwise I’d be in Wollongong on Wednesday 19 August when Professor Clark talks about cochlear implant research and announces the winner of “Bionics 2020” – a high school student with a creative vision for the future of bionics.

Thinking back on Professor Clark’s pioneering work, I can’t begin to fathom how it would feel to be able to hear after living in silence. Besides really noisy, I can imagine the freedom and possibilities must seem infinite. Obviously it’s an experience powerful enough to cause an impromptu marriage proposal, like Barry Block’s.

Most significantly, it would be amazing to communicate and interact more freely. In his blog on life post-bionic ear, Dan Solcher writes about the time he tried to prove he could find three young relatives without the aid of his cochlear implant – and failed dismally.

“I put implants back on and the whole sounds came alive in my mind. Now I can hear where they are, what they are doing, and how they are. I did not need to see them visually, since     they are talking and making noises so I can tell what is going on … I am a true believer in total parental responsibility and that hearing is the most important part of the parenthood.”

I can’t wait to see the ideas that emerge from the Bionics 2020 competition (I’m all for a bionic heart!), and I hope that technology continues to help people overcome physical challenges, just like Professor Clark’s work has.

Find out more about the event here.

Tags: bionics

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