About Us
The Graeme Clark Foundation aims
to ensure that all deaf people can hear and develop their full potential
in the world of sound. It is essential that the ground breaking research
resulting in the cochlear implant (bionic ear), led by Graeme Clark and
developed industrially by Cochlear Limited, provide the best
possible help to
severely deaf children and adults in Australia and
around the world. The Foundation is also assisting those who are financially
and socially disadvantaged to obtain a cochlear implant. In addition,
the Foundation has assumed a broader responsibility to give hearing
generally to those with middle ear disease, and in particular indigenous
Australians where ear infections are a major problem. The Foundation is
also supporting research to achieve high fidelity hearing, acute
hearing in noise and musical appreciation with a
cochlear implant and/or hearing aid. This will also require training
in listening skills and verbal language. In
particular, it will support young scientists with innovative ideas to
solve this problem and help them in their career development. The
Foundation also aims to foster research that will lead to a cure for
blindness and spinal cord injuries.
In Australia three in every thousand
people are profoundly hearing impaired in both ears. Most of these
people (approximately 60,000) will not receive adequate help with a
hearing aid, and therefore could benefit from the cochlear implant
(bionic ear). In addition, eight in every thousand people are severely
deaf in the better ear, but profoundly deaf in the poorer ear. Many of
these people could now benefit from a cochlear implant in the poorer
ear, and a hearing aid in the better one. In Australia
there are 160,000 people in this category. In addition, over one in a
thousand children who are under four are born with deafness due to
maternal and genetic factors.. So there are approximately 300 new cases
of children born deaf each year.
The pioneering research by Graeme Clark and team has led to the
development of a new discipline in medical research,
namely Medical Bionics. It will help form the scientific basis for the
development of a bionic eye and bionic spinal cord. It is
estimated that four in a thousand people in the US are legally blind. This is a
similar incidence to those who are profoundly deaf. There are 50,000
Australians who are blind.
Loss of the sense
of touch, as well as mobility, occurs all too frequently with spinal
cord injuries. It is most common in young healthy males, caused by road
accidents, falls, and sporting injuries. Approximately 12,000 people in Australia are affected, with at
least 300 new cases per year. The cost to the country is roughly one
million dollars over the lifetime of each individual, thus equating to a
total of 12 billion dollars.
