Graeme+Clark,+invented+the+bionic+ear

Graeme Clark, is an Australian doctor. He invented the bionic ear.

Early life
Graeme Clark was born in 1935 in a country town called Camden in New South Wales. As a boy he always interested in inventing things and making new discoveries. He used to do experiments in the laundry! His mother was a creative person and she always encouraged him and gave him confidence. His father was a pharmacist and he encouraged Graeme to take an interest in medicine. He taught Graeme to always stand up for himself and to do what is right. Graeme's father was very deaf. He did not have a very good hearing aid and this made it hard for him to communicate. This made Graeme want to do something to something to help deaf people.

Study and research
Graeme studied medicine at the University of Sydney and then started work as a doctor. But he realised that he really wanted to do research so he gave up his well-paid job and started trying to find a way to develop a receiver and a transmitter for the human ear. A lot of people criticised him and said it would never work, and it was always hard to get enough money to do the experiments. But he did not give up.

Success
Professor Clark's first patient was a man called Rod Saunders. In 1978, he was the first person to have a bionic ear. At first there were deaf people who did not want the bionic ear because they were used to being deaf. But now most children have the implant when they are still small so that they can learn to talk like everyone else.

How does the bionic ear work?
The bionic ear is called a cochlear implant and consists of a tiny computer that the person wears, and electronics which are transplanted into the person's head. Visit [|Kid Cyber] to see how the bionic ear works.

More research
The bionic ear isn't perfect. It doesn't work very well in noisy places and of course it only works on one ear. Professor Clark is still experimenting to try to make it work even better. You can see pictures of Professor Clark and his inventions in a book called Healers, by Sheila Hatherley, Outstanding Australians series, Macmillan 1994, ISBN: 9780732920845. It's in the MPPS library on the Biography shelf.

Sources: [|Professor Graeme Clark - profile by George Negus]