'When he heard his first words I was just so overcome I went into the next door laboratory and wept for joy.'

Professor Graeme Clark had since the 1960s been engaged in intense research into the areas of otolaryngology (ear, nose and throat surgery) and the human brain's response to coded sound. His PhD from 1969 reflected a keen interest in finding ways to improve, restore and even introduce hearing to patients. From here he started investigating methods to electrically stimulate the auditory nerve. Clark's research led to the development of the cochlear implant and the means to implant the device in human recipients. In 1978, assisted by Dr Brian Pyman, Professor Clark successfully performed the world's first cochlear implant operation on Rod Saunders at Melbourne's Royal Victorian Eye and Ear Hospital. Clark further developed the cochlear implant to a 22-channel device and children became recipients of the cochlear implant for the first time in the 1980s. The 1980s also saw the Australian company Cochlear Pty Ltd produce the implant for recipients worldwide. Lauded both nationally and internationally for his research, Clark led the development of a device that the US Food and Drug Administration estimates has been implanted to approximately 219,000 people worldwide.

Gleaned from two separate retrospective profiles on the life and career of Graeme Clark, this clip shows him at work, family home movies, and historic photographs. Of great interest is the rare footage of the first hearing test for Rod Saunders, recipient of the world's first multi-channel cochlear implant in 1978. Listen as Clark also discusses his motivations for entering medicine and assisting the hearing-impaired in particular, and how nature helped inspire his vision for the development of the cochlear implant device.