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Anticipating technology’s next wave

Volume 10 Number 5 May 12 - June 8 2014

Photo: Michael Silver
Photo: Michael Silver

 

Professor Graeme Clark continues to work to create perfect hearing for hearing impaired people. As he starts a new stage in his already distinguished career, Professor Clark celebrates the next oration named in his honour. Annie Rahilly reports.

Starting a new job can be exciting and Professor Graeme Clark, now in his seventies, is enjoying the challenges of being the newest employee in the Centre for Neural Engineering (CfNE) at the University of Melbourne.

Professor Clark, known for his work with the Bionic Ear, did not go through a gruelling job interview, but was asked to continue his research into improving hearing in a specialist centre. The CfNE has a focus on bringing together engineering and medicine.

“I have been associated with the University of Melbourne for over 40 years now and I have witnessed a shift where the two disciplines of medicine and engineering are merging closer. We are moving to a more intimate understanding of the body and its functions, with the human brain at the centre,” Professor Clark says.

“The Centre is evolving into a place of future discoveries. We have to dream big dreams to imagine the possibilities of the brain. I will never be done until I have achieved perfect hearing. It is good, but not perfect so there is still work to do.”

The Cochlear implant has made an impact across the world but Professor Clark remembers it wasn’t so long ago when the notion of placing wires into the inner ear was considered risky. Professor Clark first witnessed the use of devices in the cardiology department of a Sydney hospital. 

He thought about placing wires into the inner ear as an intervention. After many safety studies, and with the greatest respect for the delicate structure of the ear, Professor Clark moved closer to the success of the first implant.

The Graeme Clark Oration, named in his honour, is an annual event that informs the community about the latest advances where biology, computing and engineering meet.

This year’s speaker, Dr Donald Ingber from the Wyss Institute at Harvard University, will discuss the “Next Technology Wave: Biologically Inspired Engineering.”

The oration is a free public event to be held at the Melbourne Convention Centre on Thursday 5 June commencing at 6.15 pm.