About Graeme Clark

“In spite of the problems and criticisms, I just had to go on. A cochlear implant was their only hope of ever hearing.”

That was Professor Graeme Clark’s way of thinking—never give up on finding a way to help the profoundly deaf hear.

It was his deaf father’s struggles that ignited this determination. Professor Clark grew up seeing the hardship of living in silence—including the frustration, anguish and resulting isolation. He also witnessed his father’s desire for a greater connection to others, and was determined to make it possible.

In the mid-1960s, while working as a research professor at the University of Melbourne in Australia, Professor Clark came upon a scientific paper. It described how a profoundly deaf person received hearing sensations through electrical stimulation. The seed was planted, and he began researching the possibility of an electronic, implantable hearing device: a cochlear implant.

Though creating an implant seemed like an impossibly tall order, Professor Clark dedicated years to its research and development. His colleagues said a cochlear implant wouldn’t work because the inner ear was just too complicated. Others said that there were unknown risks. There was also the lack of funding and the technological challenge of fitting electrodes into the tiny inner ear.

But the chance to give those living in deafness the gift of sound urged him on. For over a decade he continued on his quest. Finally, his research was put to a test. In 1978, the first cochlear implant surgery took place. Professor Clark’s determination had paid off—the surgery was a success.

From his success, Cochlear was born. Its purpose: to make Professor Clark’s innovative multi-channel cochlear implant commercially available all over the world. Today, over 80,000 severely or profoundly deaf children and adults have received a cochlear implant. Thanks to his relentless dedication, they’ve all been given the opportunity to interact more fully with their world. 

Professor Clark is still actively involved in the advancement of cochlear implants. In 2004, he became the director of The Bionic Ear Institute, an independent, non-profit, medical research organization that partners with Cochlear. Together, Professor Clark and Cochlear continue to explore new avenues in technology and deliver first-to-market innovations that help the deaf hear with more clarity and ease.