Participants:
Series Code: TIJ
Program Code: TIJ003118S
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00:31 Most of the world's population have relatively normal hearing,
00:35 and the sounds of everyday life is something that most of us 00:38 take for granted. 00:40 However, for over 5% of the world's population, 00:43 360 million people, 00:46 they have a disabling hearing loss 00:48 in either one or both ears or are profoundly deaf. 01:00 For those with partial hearing loss, 01:02 this is what life sounds like. 01:22 Thankfully, to the commitment, 01:23 passion and determination of an Australian hero, 01:27 the gift of sound has been given back 01:30 to over half a million people around the world. 02:06 Yay! 02:08 You chill. 02:09 Just say yes. Give me, Barrett. 02:21 Hi. 02:24 Hi. Oh, look, he's smiling. 02:36 Good afternoon. I know. 02:40 Hi, Cooper. 02:43 Hi, Cooper. 03:04 No one has ever been able to restore 03:06 one of our five senses 03:10 until Professor Graeme Clark devoted his energy, 03:13 determination and faith 03:16 to the development of the cochlear implant. 03:20 Many of us are familiar with Professor Graeme Clark 03:23 and how he led the team 03:25 to develop the first cochlear implant in 1978. 03:31 It is commonplace now to see adults and children 03:34 wearing the latest generation of the bionic ear. 03:38 Around half a million people in the world 03:40 now have improved hearing, thanks to this amazing device. 03:46 We're here in the National Museum of Australia, 03:49 where you can see the first cochlear implant, 03:52 a device that was supposed to be impossible, 03:56 a device that brought together a groundbreaking combination 04:00 of in-ear surgery, cybernetics, 04:03 electronic engineering, 04:05 speech processing, and neuroscience. 04:08 A device that proved that 04:10 we could directly bypass malfunctioning ears 04:14 and bring sound to the profoundly deaf 04:17 by direct stimulation of the brain. 04:19 In other words, bringing sounds from silence. 04:25 Professor Clark's work is inspirational 04:28 and contributed 04:29 so much to our understanding of the brain. 04:32 Today I want to share with you part of Professor Clark's story 04:36 that didn't make media headlines. 04:39 His commitment to a practice that at the time 04:42 might have been considered insignificant, 04:44 but has now been shown to be very important 04:48 to helping our brains work at their full potential 04:51 and bringing powerful insight and creativity. 04:55 Today we'll spend some time 04:57 with Professor Clark revisiting history. 05:06 I was born in 1935 here in Camden in 62, 05:11 John Street in our home. 05:13 And I remember that as I grew up, 05:17 I was a very hyperactive child. 05:20 I caused my mother a little bit of stress 05:24 when I climb trees and block them, 05:28 caused her frustrations when she locked me 05:32 in the bathroom and I escape and disappear. 05:36 I was always curious as a child. 05:40 I always wanted to know why or where. 05:44 This curiosity 05:47 and this drive must have been 05:52 there at an early age because at two, 05:56 I was always on the go. 05:59 And mum didn't always 06:04 answer my requests. 06:06 And I said to her once, 06:08 "I'm bored, I'm leaving." 06:13 My mother complimented my father. 06:17 She was the... 06:19 I suppose the creative person, 06:21 she was a very gifted pianist, 06:25 and also a very gifted watercolor painter, 06:28 and a loving, caring mother, 06:32 who was always willing to sacrifice 06:36 herself for her children. 06:40 My father was a great inspiration. 06:43 He was deaf and a pharmacist here in Camden. 06:48 And I knew only too well, how difficult it was for him. 06:53 But in addition, he was a very ethical person, 06:57 both in business and in his life generally. 07:00 And as a young person, I found that most helpful 07:04 later on to be ethical, 07:07 I hope in my research career. 07:11 I think I had a wonderful relationship 07:14 with both my father and my mother. 07:17 I couldn't have asked for better parents. 07:21 And I only hope that I could be half as good 07:26 as my father and my mother. 07:31 Since Camden had no high school, 07:33 Graeme headed to Sydney, 07:35 where he first attended Sydney Boys High 07:38 and later boarded at The Scots College. 07:41 It is here that he furthered his education 07:43 and desire to get into medicine, 07:45 and also became a keen sportsman. 07:51 The education 07:52 I had at this college helped me in a way 07:55 that I never realized would be so relevant 07:59 to studying medicine and then later on carrying 08:03 through research to develop was a bionic ear. 08:07 It was all based on 08:09 what I built in my learning relationships 08:14 here at Scots. 08:16 And it wasn't just academics that you got involved 08:19 with here at Scots, here you also were involved 08:22 in the sporting activities of the school. 08:26 Yes, indeed, I had a very rounded education. 08:31 I was not a brilliant sportsman, 08:34 but I played cricket with enthusiasm and football. 08:37 And I was quite a reasonable athlete. 08:41 And I found that that helped me 08:44 to adjust to the relationships in the school. 08:47 And it's always said, healthy body healthy mind. 08:53 Now I understand there's a building 08:54 at the school named after you. 08:56 Tell me a little about that? 08:58 There is the Graeme Clark Center for Innovation 09:01 in the Sciences been created. 09:03 I feel very humble about it. 09:06 It's a wonderful testimony to the relationship 09:11 between science, faith, 09:13 and I'm very proud of this building, 09:17 which is aiming to bring boys up 09:21 to a new understanding of science to make them 09:24 more creative, more innovative. 09:27 And I think that's my hope 09:30 that this will continue to do so. 09:32 What is your understanding 09:33 of the relationship between faith and science? 09:36 Why is that important for all students 09:39 coming through school? 09:41 Well, my understanding is that truth is truth 09:47 and science is aiming to find out the truth 09:50 in the physical world. 09:51 But the physical world 09:53 is complimentary to the faith world 09:56 and the spiritual world. 09:57 And we aren't just machines, 10:01 we are fearfully and wonderfully made. 10:07 In 1952, Professor Clark enrolled in medicine 10:10 at the University of Sydney. 10:12 At that time, the university was alive 10:15 with vibrant discussion groups around different philosophies. 10:23 My time at Sydney University was very formative, 10:26 very exciting experience 10:28 for a young person from the country 10:30 to learn about medicine, 10:33 that was my main aim, 10:35 so that I could become a doctor 10:37 and try and help people with ear problems 10:40 and hearing disabilities. 10:42 I started in 1952, 10:45 and went through the courses 10:48 and finally graduated in 1957, 10:53 and went through the hospital training program. 10:59 When I came, my goal was to study medicine 11:02 to become an ear doctor, 11:04 so I could help people like my father. 11:08 I've always called deafness the silent handicap, 11:12 because the average person doesn't know 11:15 what it's like to be deaf. 11:18 But I knew because I lived with my father, 11:21 and I had a great affection for him. 11:24 And so how it affected him 11:27 in such a great variety of aspects of life, 11:31 whether it be in social circumstances in Camden, 11:35 running the shop in the home, 11:38 and I desperately wanted to do something. 11:43 But how could a teenager 11:46 do something to help a father 11:49 when there was no medical assistance 11:52 for people like him? 11:57 It was also here that I was introduced 12:02 to the Student Christian Movement 12:04 and found that that was leading me 12:09 to a spiritual awareness. 12:13 It was only when 12:16 I went on a Student Christian Movement camp 12:20 in my first year of medicine 12:26 that we were asked by the leader 12:32 if we'd invite Christ into our lives. 12:36 I didn't realize 12:39 that was a very significant moment 12:42 in my life. 12:44 I did so, thinking, well, there's no harm in doing that, 12:49 because I was a nominal Christian. 12:52 I wasn't sure whether 12:53 I believed in miracles or supernatural. 12:58 But I had this extraordinary experience 13:02 when I did so in quiet time 13:06 that I felt the real presence of Christ in my life. 13:10 It was an experience of 13:15 perfume, beauty, peace. 13:20 And I haven't experienced that 13:22 since but I had said, "This is real. 13:27 I must explore it further." 13:29 And that led me to further Bible studies 13:34 to carrying out my Christian faith 13:37 in the future, 13:39 which was quite a roller coaster ride. 13:47 After finishing at Sydney University, 13:50 Graeme and his family moved to Melbourne, 13:53 where he began his career as an 13:54 ear, nose and throat surgeon. 13:57 While on holiday with his wife and children 13:59 at Minnamurra Beach in New South Wales, 14:02 Graeme made a discovery that changed history 14:06 and the lives of hundreds of thousands of people. 14:17 What a magnificent beach. 14:20 It is a magnificent beach. 14:23 And even more so as it was the beach 14:25 where the famous cochlear implant 14:28 shell story started. 14:30 It was here that I was meant to be 14:33 watching the children surfing 14:35 and was sitting here playing with a shell 14:38 that I found looking like the cochlea, 14:41 putting grass blades into it, 14:44 and found that if it was stiff at the base, 14:48 flexible at the tip, 14:49 it would go around the turns 14:52 the thing that we were struggling to discover, 14:55 and there's a shell... 14:57 There's the one of the... okay. 14:58 And there's a piece of grass, a blade of grass, 15:02 which would go around the cochlea. 15:07 And a presto. 15:09 There it is, it's gone around the turns 15:14 something that we couldn't achieve in models, 15:18 and was said to be not possible. 15:21 And it was so simple. 15:22 And it was that discovery really that changed 15:25 the course of history for deaf people, 15:27 for profoundly deaf people. 15:28 It did change the course, 15:31 because it meant we could use multi electrodes to simulate 15:36 different frequencies in people 15:39 who are profoundly deaf with that electrode system. 15:44 And I bet you were excited 15:46 to get back to the lab and test it out. 15:49 I was so excited that I asked Margaret 15:52 if we could leave a few days earlier, 15:55 just to go back to Melbourne and test it out 15:58 because at that stage, we had to, 16:01 had the pressure on us to develop a prototype implant 16:06 for our first patient. 16:08 And we were running out of time. 16:15 This is the Melbourne Eye and Ear Hospital, 16:17 where Professor Clark and his team spent 14 years 16:21 pushing challenges and obstacles. 16:23 Many said it was impossible. 16:25 They had a lack of money. 16:27 They were criticized by their peers. 16:29 And they faced what seemed like 16:31 insurmountable technical challenges. 16:34 Could they remain dedicated to their course? 16:44 I worked at this hospital, 16:47 I think it's now over 50 years I've been associated. 16:52 Part of that time 16:53 was as the professor of otolaryngology, 16:56 first established here 16:58 and then setting up a clinic for the hospital 17:02 and then the first cochlear implant clinic 17:07 in the world. 17:09 So I've had a very long 17:10 and happy association with this hospital. 17:16 You know, much of the research 17:17 that we were doing was new and was pioneering. 17:22 Although we always build on the work of others, 17:26 this was thought to be impossible. 17:31 And therefore everything we were doing was new 17:34 and breaking new ground. 17:36 And it was difficult too 17:37 because people said that it wouldn't work. 17:41 And I found that 17:44 it's also making it hard to do the groundbreaking work. 17:49 But I want to give credit to our wonderful team. 17:56 It wasn't just me. 17:58 I led the team, 17:59 had to provide assistance of ideas, 18:02 but we were a wonderfully enthusiastic team. 18:08 There were many struggles 18:10 that were related to the research 18:12 to convince people that what we were doing was good. 18:17 And the scientific community were very skeptical. 18:22 But in addition, I learned, 18:25 you can't do this research without money. 18:30 The big breakthrough 18:32 which I believe was announced in prayer 18:35 was when Sir Reginald Ansett from Channel 0 or 10 18:41 decided he wanted to have 18:42 a telephone to raise money for deafness, 18:47 which we called "No Deafness" 18:49 and that gave us the money 18:52 to kick-start the whole program. 18:55 And was only then 18:57 when we could show that our first patient 19:01 could actually hear and understand speech, 19:05 that the grant bodies, 19:07 the National Health and Medical Research Council 19:10 decided to fund us. 19:12 So it was funny to think that 19:15 we had to prove that it would work 19:20 before we got money 19:22 for basic further research. 19:26 These struggles were 19:29 demanding in many ways. 19:31 And for me, it became more and more 19:37 a question of relying 19:39 on my Christian faith, my prayer life. 19:43 I did what we were recommended 19:49 by the scriptures, to praise, 19:52 pray unceasingly 19:54 and I found in my walk with Christ 19:58 that the more difficult, 20:01 the more challenging, 20:04 the less I could rely on myself, 20:08 the more I found prayers got answered in ways 20:12 that I really didn't expect or anticipate. 20:16 And that was another 20:18 great spiritual awakening for me. 20:27 In 1978, after 14 years of research, 20:31 frustration and tears, Dr. Clark and his team 20:35 were now ready to make history 20:37 by inserting the first prototype 20:39 of the cochlear implant into a willing patient 20:42 by the name of Rod Saunders. 20:46 Rod had become profoundly deaf 20:48 as a result of a car accident a few years earlier. 20:53 On the 1st of August, 1978, 20:57 extremely stressful time. 21:01 And I found 21:04 to be the surgeon too. 21:07 It's helpful for the patient, 21:11 if you're as a surgeon at peace 21:14 when you're doing the work. 21:18 And before the final surgery, 21:24 I went away with my wife 21:28 for a prayer weekend, 21:30 where we prayed, 21:32 we relaxed and felt God's hand in it. 21:38 I came back on the Monday morning 21:40 and the engineers were all in panic state, 21:43 trying to make sure that 21:44 the bionic ear was finally going to work 21:49 for the following day, the Tuesday. 21:52 But the sister, who was a wonderful sister, 21:58 on Tuesday morning, 22:00 said afterwards how nervous she was, 22:03 and she was amazed how peaceful 22:09 I and Brian Pyman and my colleague were, 22:13 I didn't tell her that 22:15 I wasn't exactly at peace 22:17 but that peace was needed 22:21 to do the right thing for this patient. 22:26 And to see things clearly, 22:29 when, because when you operate, 22:32 it's not a routine thing. 22:34 It's not a car that we operate. 22:37 And there are variables 22:39 that you have to be prepared to deal with. 22:42 So you need that peace. 22:46 When I look back on the efforts 22:52 and the results, firstly, 22:55 I must say at the start, 22:58 I never realized what would be achieved, 23:02 I prayed for guidance 23:06 that God's will would be done. 23:09 If it wasn't a success, 23:11 then I did my best with God's help. 23:15 But it turned out far more dramatic and wonderful 23:20 than I could ever have imagined. 23:24 And it's been wonderful to help adults 23:28 who had hearing and gone deaf. 23:31 But the greatest satisfactions, 23:34 the greatest fulfillment has been young children 23:39 who are born deaf, and then being benefited 23:43 from the cochlear implant. 23:46 Prior to this work, profoundly deaf children 23:50 did not have any alternative 23:54 other than sign language of the deaf. 23:57 They could not so easily relate 23:59 to hearing colleagues and peer group. 24:03 But to see these children normally speaking, 24:09 you would not know they had a hearing problem. 24:13 It brings tears to my eyes. 24:21 Professor Clark and his team are responsible 24:24 for restoring hearing 24:25 to hundreds of thousands of people worldwide. 24:29 And the innovation has continued 24:30 with the cochlear ear implant, 24:32 now smaller and more powerful than ever before. 24:36 This groundbreaking life changing technology 24:39 was made possible through 24:40 the leadership of an amazing man 24:43 who constantly took time to step outside his work 24:46 and allow time 24:47 for listening to the voice and guidance of God. 24:51 Professor Clark restored the sense of hearing to so many 24:55 and always make time to listen himself. 24:58 Perhaps we can even 25:00 follow Professor Clark's example 25:02 and integrate prayer into our stillness. 25:10 If you are wondering about 25:12 how to experience the power of prayer in your life, 25:15 like Dr. Graeme Clark did. 25:17 If you're wanting to reach out to God, 25:19 but just aren't sure about how to do it, 25:22 then I'd like to recommend the free gift we have 25:25 for all our incredible journey viewers today. 25:30 It's the free booklet, how to pray. 25:34 This small booklet will share with you 25:36 how to talk with God, 25:38 and how to really feel a connection with Him. 25:41 Knowing how to pray will bring you the peace, 25:44 security and hope we're all seeking 25:47 and it will change your life forever. 25:50 This booklet is free and I guarantee 25:53 there are no costs or obligations whatsoever. 25:56 So make the most of this wonderful opportunity 26:00 to receive the free gift we have for you today. 26:05 Phone or text us at 0436 333 555 in Australia, 26:11 or 020 422 2042 in New Zealand, 26:16 or visit our website TiJ.tv 26:20 to request today's free offer 26:22 and we'll send it to you totally free of charge 26:25 and with no obligation. 26:26 Write to us at GPO Box 274, 26:29 Sydney, New South Wales 2001, Australia 26:33 or PO Box 76673, 26:37 Manukau, Auckland 2241, New Zealand. 26:40 Don't delay, call or text us now. 26:46 If you've enjoyed our journey with Dr. Graeme Clarke 26:49 into the world of sound 26:51 and the development of the bionic ear, 26:53 and their reflections on how powerful prayer can be, 26:57 then be sure to join us again next week 27:00 when we will share another of life's journeys together. 27:04 Until then, I would like to share 27:06 Dr. Graeme Clark's 27:07 favorite prayer with you that is included in his memoir. 27:12 Let's pray this prayer together right now. 27:16 Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name. 27:20 Your kingdom come, 27:21 Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. 27:25 Give us this day our daily bread. 27:27 And forgive our debts as we forgive our debtors. 27:31 And do not lead us into temptation, 27:34 but deliver us from the evil one. 27:37 For Yours is the kingdom 27:38 and the power and the glory forever. 27:42 Amen. |
Revised 2020-10-04