Led by Professor Graeme Clark, researchers in Melbourne during the 1970s developed the world-first cochlear implant. They designed this ‘bionic ear’ to help people who had become deaf because of an accident or illness to hear again. The first person to receive a bionic ear was Rod Saunders, who had gone deaf after a car accident in 1977. He received his bionic ear in 1978. After testing on various patients an improved version of the bionic ear was used from 1982. The bionic ear has to be implanted by surgery. The surgeon inserts a bundle of very fine electrodes against nerve endings deep inside the patient’s ear; these are linked by wires to a transmitter placed behind the ear. The patient then has to spend many months learning to understand the strange way things sound through the bionic ear. But most people are happy to be able to hear anything at all.