[Music plays and a stream of gold coins and the Australian Government Coat of Arms, and the Global Australia logo, and text appears on a green screen: Aussie Inventors Showcase, Cochlear Implant with Professor Graeme Clark]

[Image changes to show a close view of Prof Graeme Clark talking to the camera, and text appears: Prof Graeme Clark, University of Melbourne, Cochlear Implant]

Prof Graeme Clark: I am Graeme Clark. 

[Images move through to show Graeme holding up a cochlear implant, Graeme holding the cochlear implant between two children, an animation of the implant labelled “Graeme’s Invention Cochlear Implant”, and a male wearing the implant]

I’m a surgeon scientist best known for leading the development of the world’s first clinically successful, multichannel cochlear implant used for severe deafness.

[Images move through to show waves crashing on a shore, fish swimming over a coral reef, rain falling on the ground, and a cochlear implant on a person’s ear, and text appears: When I grow up]

At the age of five I told my kinder teacher, “When I grow up I want to fix ears”. 

[Images move through of a male and a child talking in sign language, Graeme holding a cochlear implant near a male’s head, and Graeme operating on a patient]

My father was deaf, and I was passionate in helping him and others. 

[Images move through to show a female looking through a microscope, digital images of the brain, and a male working at a computer and writing notes]

I was keen to discover how to restore speech understanding, as it would reveal insights into our consciousness, and perhaps even the meaning of life.

[Camera zooms in on the notes he is making, and then the image changes to show the male looking down as he works]

Getting financial support was the first major problem. 

[Images move through of a photo of the cochlear implant, surgeons performing an operation, and a Receiver-Stimulator and text appears: The Cochlear Implant for Children 1985, University of Melbourne Receiver-Stimulator -1977]

The research had to be done on human, and this required complex and expensive engineering. 

[Images move through to show a photo of surgeons operating, the multi-channel cochlear implant receiver-stimulator, and a male inserting a cochlear implant in his ear]

Fortunately, the publicity I received through operating on a deaf dog enabled us to create the most complex package of electronics to be inserted in a patient. 

[Images move through to show a nurse talking to a patient, Graeme talking, a photo of Graeme holding a cochlear implant next to a male, a baby having an implant fitted, and Graeme talking]

The implant has an external component, that transmits components through the skin to the internal component called a receiver stimulator. 

[Images move through to show Graeme and a male patient smiling, electrical pulses shown in pink colours, a diagram of how the system works, Graeme talking, a person looking up at a tree, and views of a rugged coastline]

The receiver stimulator sends electrical pulses along an electrode implanted in the cochlear, thereby partially reproduces the coding of sound, normally undertaken by the inner ear.

[Images move through to show a male and female looking at an iPad, Graeme talking to the camera, a view of the Sydney Harbour Bridge, Graeme talking, and views of a researcher at work]

The cochlear implant was only the second discovery to be developed with the support from the Australian Government. Since that time governments and institutions have taken a vital interest. 

[Image changes to show liquid being syringed up, a researcher looking through a microscope, and then colleagues in conversation in the lab]

But it is also necessary for the scientists to have an entrepreneurial approach as well.

[Images move through to show views of the Sydney Harbour Bridge, the Sydney Opera House, and then colleagues working at a table and talking]

Coming to Australia, you will find a friendly, team approach throughout the country. 

[Images move through to show a male and female looking at notes on a pinboard, and then colleagues seated at a table in conversation]

Furthermore, you will see much relevant research congregated under the one roof. 

[Image changes to show Graeme talking to the camera, and then the image changes to show hands placing a pair of glasses on a surgeon]

I had the good fortune to be able to do this with the cochlear implant. 

[Images move through to show colleagues seated at a table in a tearoom talking together]

There’s nothing like a good tearoom to foster creative discussions. 

[Images move through to show researchers looking through a microscope, a close view of a baby’s ear, an elderly male answering a phone, and a child picking up mown grass and throwing it]

The best thing about our discovery is the feedback from children and adults. 

[Camera zooms in on the child throwing the mown grass, and then the image changes to show a profile view of a female smiling, and then the image changes to show Graeme talking to the camera]

Children quite often say, “You’ve given me a new life”. And adults say, “You have given me back my life”.

[Music plays and the image changes to show a stream of gold coins on a green screen, and the Coat of Arms and Global Australia logo and text appears: globalaustralia.gov.au, Footage courtesy of The Graeme Clark Foundation & the University of Melbourne]