Who received the first successful multichannel cochlear implant in 1978?

Rod Saunders received the first successful multichannel cochlear implant in 1978.

The operation took place in Melbourne, Australia, using a device developed by surgeon Graeme Clark and his research team. Unlike early single-channel devices, a multichannel implant was designed to stimulate different parts of the cochlea and convey more useful information about sound.

Saunders had lost his hearing as an adult and became the first recipient in the pioneering clinical program. The implant did not restore normal hearing, but it provided access to sound that could support speech understanding and communication after rehabilitation.

William House is associated with important earlier cochlear-implant work, and André Djourno helped pioneer electrical stimulation of the auditory nerve. Those contributions are sometimes confused with the first successful multichannel implant, which is linked to Saunders and Clark’s 1978 operation.