Dr. William House is credited with installing the first cochlear implant in 1961. He was told by experts the electric current he was using would further destroy the ear, but that didn't stop him. Here's a little about him.
- Known as the "father of neurotology."
- Born in 1924.
- He attended medical school at the University of Southern California.
- Met his wife, June, while they were both in college at USC. She died in 2008. He has two children, Karen and David.
- Practiced medicine in Newport Beach, California until 2000, when he moved to Aurora, Oregon, next door to his son.
- His cochlear implant was approved by the FDA in 1984.
- When he started performing the cochlear surgery on children some claimed he was just after money.
- House formed All Hear, Inc., which was sold to Envoy Medical Corporation in 2007.
- Completed 3,000 implants throughout his career.
- Developed a new approach to removing tumors on the nerve that connects the ear to the brain.
- Created a new surgical procedure for Meniere's disease, an inner ear disorder contracted by Astronaut Alan Shepard, the first American in space. He couldn't have flown to the moon had it not been for House's surgery.
He wrote a memoir called The Struggles of a Medical Innovator
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