Doctors implant mini-bionic ears

Press, 12 June 1986, Page 7

Doctors implant mini-bionic ears

NZPA-AAP Melbourne Doctors in Melbourne claimed a world first by implanting mini-bionic ears in two deaf children. The two boys, Scott Smith, aged 10, and Bryn Davies, aged five, were profoundly deaf before they received their minibionic ear in operations performed by the Melbourne University implant team. The head of the bionic ear research team, Professor Graeme Clark, said the children could now hear a distorted speech sound from the multielectrode bionic ear.

Professor Clark said Scott and Bryn were the first children in the world to receive the multi-elec-trode implantable ear developed by a Sydney firm.

Professor Clark said the mirii-bionic ear was a development of the ear implant used by more than 200 adult patients worldwide.

“We have over the last 15 years carried out studies on adults — now we have reached the stage of being able to help children,” he said. The first operation on Scott late last year was followed by the implant on Bryn two months ago. “We are encouraged by the results to date,” Professor Clark said. He said the bionic ear, worth about $17,000, was still at the development stage but estimated there were several hundred Australian children who

could benefit from it. He said it might be two years before the benefits for children would be known. “We don’t know how much information a child born deaf will be able to use if they haven’t had the prior exposure to sound,” he said. Scott and Bryn, who both lost their hearing in early childhood, showed off their bionic ears at a press conference.

They are now working with therapists to learn how to speak properly. Bryn’s mother, Anne marie, said he was talking much more since the ear had been implanted. “Since the operation he finds it easier to copy what is said,” she said. Professor Clark said the device was small enough for four-year-old children and should last indefinitely without need for adjustment.