The Bionic Ear
The Bionic Ear is properly called a cochlear implant.
It is an artificial hearing tool which stimulates nerves, using electricity, in the inner ear.
The Bionic Ear helps a deaf person to hear another person speak.
There are 2 parts to the Bionic Ear
One part is placed under the skin behind a person's ear.
This is done in a hospital during an operation.
The
parts placed under the skin are the
electronic equipment needed to control the
flow of electricity into the ear and the
equipment needed to change electrical signals
into speech.
The
second part is worn on the outside of the body.
There is a microphone to pick up the voice of the person speaking.
A speech processor which turns the voice sounds into electrical signals, a transmitting coil which sends the signals to the equipment inside the deaf person's ear.
The Bionic Ear was invented by Professor Graeme Clark and a team of scientists in the 1970's. They worked in Melbourne, Australia.
The
Bionic
Ear
is worn by over 20,000 deaf people in over 55 countries.
To find out more about Professor Graeme Clark http://www.medoto.unimelb.edu.au/people/clarkg/
http://www.cochlear.com/Corp/Company/179.asp
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updated February 2007