Dr. William House, our founder

As a young man during his medical residency, Dr. William House was influenced by his bother Howard (an ear, nose and throat specialist practicing in Los Angeles), and became interested in problems of the ear. He started a practice which was exclusive to the field of otology (the branch of medicine dealing wiith the ear). Dr. House was the first doctor in the US to start his practice as an otologist. (It was common for doctors to work as ear, nose and throat specialists, that is, as "otolaryngologists".)

During the first years of his practice, a number of parents brought their deaf childen to him for help. At that time he was deeply troubled at how little could be done to help these people.

Then in 1957, a patient brought Dr. House a newspaper article about two doctors in France (Dijourno and Eyries), who had placed wires (electrodes) in a patient's destroyed cochlea. The article reported that these doctors had been able to give the patient a sensation of sound by means of this electrical stimulation. This inspired and encouraged Dr. House, and caused him to believe that it might be possible to help deaf patients to hear. He began to hope and to plan.

With his patient's permission, he began to stimulate them during operations where they were still awake. They responded to the electrical stimulus he provided by reporting that they heard sounds, and this experience further cemented his determination to proceed.

In 1959 or 1960, decades before other researchers began their work, Dr. House convinced James Doyle, an engineer, to work with him in designing a cochlear implant, and in 1961 he implanted two deaf volunteers. However, this work was undertaken before much was known about biocompatible materials, or indeed, implantable medical devices in general. Although his patients could hear some sounds when using the devices, within a short time they had developed redness and swelling in the area of the implants. Dr. House felt that there was a risk of infection, so he removed the devices. Mr. Doyle made a series of attempts, and finally patented the device in 1969 (patent 3,449,768). The patent does not mention his mentor and the instigator of this invention, Dr. William House.

Many advances in the science of biocompatible materials were made in the subsequent years, and it became apparent that the problems of rejection had been largely addressed. Again Dr. House looked for an engineer to assist him in this and some other projects, and he encountered a very talented electrical engineer (Jack Urban). Jack was not only a superior engineer, he was also a superior human being, and he generally did not charge Dr. House for any of his services, preferring to do the work for the good of mankind. Jack and Dr. House chose not to patent their work, believing that this would encourage others to explore and improve these devices.

Starting in 1969, and over the next few years, working with a series of deaf volunteers, Jack and Dr. House provided implants for these patients, and it was these two (with the eventual assistance of 3M Corporation), who developed the first practical cochlear implant.

In 1973 Dr. House had implants functioning in eleven patients. The National Institute of Health asked if the patients could be independently studied to resolve the issue of cochlear implants, since many people thought that it was impossible for the devices to work and to provide hearing. The tests showed that in fact, these new medical devices did work. The publication of these findings (by Dr. Bilger) stimulated greatly increased worldwide interest in the cochlear implant.

Since then a number of different types of implants have been created by different groups of researchers in many countries. These implants generally cost $25,000, with surgery and follow-up care in addition to that price.

Dr. House also has continued to work with cochlear implants, founding AllHear, Inc. in 1991. The key question now with regard to cochlear implants is: Can high-quality cochlear implants be made affordable to more of the people of the world? The available evidence says yes...

To pursue research aimed at resolving this question, and to provide cochlear implants to people around the world, Dr. House has founded Hearing for Children.