Sydney’s Royal Prince Alfred Hospital has celebrated 40 years since the first cochlear implant recipient in New South Wales, Ms Sue Walters, had the life-changing surgery.
Walters was the first person in the state to receive a cochlear implant in 1984 and also the first deaf person in the world with a cochlear implant to make a phone call. Pioneering surgeon, Professor Bill Gibson AO, performed the surgery.
With its success, Walters later called Professor Gibson on the phone and had a conversation. RPA audio-visual staff captured a record of the call on video and it was shared all over the world.
“It was excellent, and showed just how good (cochlear implant inventor) Graeme Clark’s cochlear implant was,” Prof Gibson said.
Walters, Prof Gibson and past and present colleagues, cochlear implant recipients and their families, members of RPA’s multidisciplinary team and representatives from support organisations gathered to celebrate the outcomes of cochlear implantation at a commemorative event at the hospital on 15 August 2024.
“It was so brave of Bill to go ahead, I think, with this surgery, because there was a lot of opposition. So, I’m eternally grateful to you for that,” Walters said.
At age 22, she had lost all hearing after meningitis.
“I didn’t know anyone who was deaf and my conversations were all written on notepads,” she recalled. “I thought, ‘well, why not try the implant?’ I thought it had to be a lot better than what I had, which was nothing except loud head noise,” she said.
Prof Gibson was running a program for multichannel cochlear implants at the time, when Walters volunteered to be the first recipient.
“In those days, 40 years ago, the cochlear implant was very controversial,” he said. “There were several groups internationally trying to develop an effective cochlear implant, but the idea conflicted with many of the scientists of the day who said it would never be possible for electrodes to be sufficient to allow speech to be interpreted by the ear.
“But we went and did two surgeries. People then realised this device did allow people to hear speech and it took off. Now hundreds of thousands of people have received a cochlear implant.”
Developed by Professor Graeme Clark AC in Melbourne, the new multi-channel cochlear implant required outside testing to verify its success and Prof Gibson raised his hand.
The surgery took hours and was completed with Australia’s first specialist otologist, RPA colleague Dr Barry Scrivener AM, and scrub nurse Ms Denise Lithgow.
The event was also an opportunity to recognise Dr Halit Sanli, cochlear implant biomedical engineer, who created protocols and enabled accurate physiological testing during his 30-year career at the hospital.
Dr Farya Gol, principal hospital scientist RPA and the statewide cochlear implant program said: “The pioneering work of Professor Bill Gibson has been the seed for a truly unique program that has grown across Australia, fostering extensive and extraordinary collaborations.
“The multidisciplinary team that Prof Gibson assembled and led on this journey has established numerous best practices in the field. His dedication and passion have been a great inspiration, not only for all of us at RPA and NextSense but also for many working in this field.
“One of the key contributors to this multidisciplinary work at RPA was Dr Halit Sanli, a biomedical engineer who joined Prof Gibson at RPA Hospital,” she said. “I had the privilege of working with Halit and was continually impressed by his knowledge, experience, and, above all, his dedication. His innovative approach, engineering skills, and commitment to supporting both clients and surgeons have had a profound impact.”
Current RPA ENT surgeon, Clinical Professor Catherine Birman OAM, added: “Here at RPA, we stand on the shoulders of giants, and we continue this pioneering cochlear implant work.
“RPA continues to be the centre of excellence for cochlear implants in NSW. We strive for our best outcomes for our patients, each of them having a very different history, and different expectations.”
Other current cochlear implant surgeons who attended were Professor Kelvin Kong and Clinical Associate Professor Alex Saxby.
Professor Diana Horvath, AO, who was CEO at RPA at the time of the first cochlear implant, also attended the event and said she had RPA in her DNA, having been a medical student there in the 1960s and one of the first married interns to be employed in a NSW hospital. She said innovation drove RPA.
About 15,000 Australians have cochlear implants. Only about 10% of people who could benefit from the implants receive them. About one-third of Australia’s cochlear implant surgeries occur in NSW, RPA said.
Walters has since become an advocate and is president of CICADA charity and volunteer organisation dedicated to supporting hearing-impaired Australians who use cochlear implants.
NSW Minister for Health Mr Ryan Park said NSW Health had been at the forefront of medical innovation for decades and the cochlear implant was a perfect example of advances it had helped pioneer.
“Through our continued research in this area, we are making great strides in further improving the quality of life for many people across the state,” he said.
Minister for Innovation, Science and Technology Mr Anoulack Chanthivong said NSW was the home of med-tech in Australia and Cochlear was one of the best examples of how innovation changed lives.
“The NSW Government is helping expand this global impact even further through our Joint Economic Meeting partnership with Guangdong province in China that sees products made here available in that region’s healthcare system,” he added.
NSW Minister for Medical Research Mr David Harris said the government continued to build on the work of great pioneers like Prof Gibson by funding programs that kept the best and brightest medical researchers in the state.
More reading
Bionics Institute Visionary Award for cochlear implant pioneer Prof Graeme Clark
An audiologist’s journey to a cochlear implant
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