1748: a painter by the name of Benjamin Wilson attempted to restore hearing in a deaf woman with a very primitive electrical device. When turned on she experienced a transient improvement in hearing. His transient success could not be repeated again.

1800 Alessandro Volta put in 2 electrodes in his ears using a Leyden Jar and when it discharged experienced a boiling sound in his ears.

However it was only in 1957 that Andre Djourno and Charles Eyries in Paris published the first report of electrical stimulation of the hearing nerve in humans. Through transcutaneous (through the skin) stimulation with an electrode in the hearing nerve that was exposed through an ear operation. The patient could distinguish between low frequency and high frequency sounds. However, this was published in France and in French and their work almost went unnoticed.

It was in 1960 that the work of Djourno and Eyries was brought to the attention of Dr William House a famous ear surgeon from Los Angeles California. In 1961 Dr William House successfully stimulated a deaf man and he was able to appreciate sound.

Meanwhile at Stanford University Blair Simmons successfully stimulated the hearing nerve in 1962 and published his work in 1964. It was at a 1967 ear surgery workshop that Dr Blair coined the term Cochlear Implant and has remained so since then.

Thereafter through the 70’s and 80’significant improvement and refinement of cochlear implants have occurred.

The device is no longer primitive.

From the single electrode device designed by Dr William House the device is now a 12 pairs (24) electrodes device. The single electrode single channel device designed by Dr William House gave patients only sound awareness. Those first patients could not understand speech but could only be aware that there was a sound.

The modern Cochlear implant is a multielectrode multichannel device allowing patients to understand speech and appreciate a whole range of sounds.