GRAEME CLARK

The Bionic Ear

The History of the Inventor

Graeme Clark was born in Australia, 1934. He grew up in Camden, 61 kilometers south of Sydney. Graeme went to Camden primary school. For his Secondary school Graeme went to Sydney Boy’s high school, only for one year. For the remainder of his secondary experience he was a border at The Scots College (Sydney).  During Middle school Graeme was a very keen athlete, especially in Cricket. When Graeme was a young boy, his Father became deaf. That experience for Graeme inspired him to want to help death people.  He then studied medicine at the University of Sydney. He graduated in 1957 with a wide range of extraordinary results by earning a Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS) with honors. He then specialized in ear, nose and throat surgery at the Royal National Throat Nose and Ear Hospital. In 1969 Graeme Clark obtained a fellowship from the Royal College of Surgeons, London. In 1969 Graeme Clark earned his PHD of Middle Ear & Neural Mechanisms in Hearing and in the Management of Deafness at the University of Sydney. During this period of Graeme Clarks life he also completed a Master of Surgery thesis on “The Principles of the Structural Support of the Nose and its Application to Nasal and Sepal Surgery’. While Graeme Clark was undergoing this capability, he had to cope with immense criticism from his colleagues. This encounter for Graeme acquired a lot of confidence and effort situated with the anatomy of the ear. Eventually Graeme achieved his goal which was very appreciated by an immense amount of deaf people. Graeme’s Invention occupied the negative feelings and thoughts of the people who suffered from deafness. Clarks Invention devised an immense positive effect upon deaf people.

Purpose of Invention

The Purpose of Graeme Clarke’s invention was to invent a conceivable device that delivers speech understanding to severely and profoundly deaf people. Clark’s research demonstrated that an electrode bundle with 'graded stiffness' would pass without injury around the tightening spiral of the cochlea to the speech frequency region. Until this time he had difficulty identifying a way to place the electrode bundle in the cochlea without causing any damage. A breakthrough was achieved during a vacation at the beach – using a seashell to replicate the human cochlea and grass blades (which were flexible at the tip and gradually increasing in stiffness) to represent electrodes. 

How an Ear works:
 

As we all know, a normal ear operates by the movement of sound waves that strike the ear drum which travels through the fluid in the Cochlea, which cause tiny hair cells that surround the Cochlea to move. The hearing nerve then sends the information to the brain, with electrical impulses where they are interpreted as sound.  The cause of deafness is where the human has not got the availability to perform this type of process.

How the Bionic Ear works:

The Bionic ear contains a microphone and two electric circuits which are designed to be connected to the brain. The two electric circuits are lightly attached to the side of the human head, (in which the side of the head has to be shaved obviously, to receive a superb transmission signal). The way how the Bionic ear operates is that when there is a sound generating, the microphone that is attached to the device, which is attached to the ear, picks up the sound waves. The sound waves become transformed into electrodes which are sent to the receiver stimulator. The receiver stimulator transmits the electrodes through the electric circuits that deliver an excellent signal to the brain. Therefore, this is how deaf people can hear from this very useful device.

The impact of Innovation of Technologies on the Environment & Society

The astonishing Invention (The Bionic Ear, Invented by Graeme Clark), concludes this Assignment with one more additional admirable Title. The impact of constant innovation on this astonishing device is being carefully dealt with. The ‘’Bionic Ear Institute’’ is developing new ideas that will improve the transmission of electrodes that are transmitted through the electrical circuits up into the brain. Additionally the Institute is trying to improve the quality of sound that is picked up by the microphone of the Device.      The Bionic ear institute is a very helpful service for improving the service and invention of the Bionic Ear. The reason why the (Bionic Ear Institute, is a very (helpful Institute) is because an Institute specialises in the only one particular subject that they are meant to be specialising for. Therefore, the ‘’Bionic Ear Institute’’ is a very helpful Institute because it only specialises in the one particular subject, which is Graeme Clarks Invention, (The Bionic Ear). The impact that this has on both the Society and the Environment is very immense.  Deaf People around the world today are considering this Device as a very tremendous valuable Device, because for Deaf people without this Device, they absolutely cannot hear. Additionally the people around the world, who are not suffering from deafness are still considering this Device as a valuable Device because it is a device to rely on ‘’if’’ the person becomes deaf coincidentally.  Medicine is another subject that blends in effectively well with the placing of a Bionic ear in a deaf person. Eventually this information tells us that the ‘’ Bionic Ear ‘’ that is invented by Graeme Clark, is a very useful device for Deaf people, and for people who are not suffering from deafness.