The bionic ear By iljazoskid 1960 Newer and faster circuit are being made to help the development of the bionic ear 1967 greame clark starts researching about the possibility of inventing an electronic implantable hearing device 1970 graham Clark invents the first multi-channel implant 1977 new designs being tested 1978 first recipient of the cochlear implant 1979 New similar device used by Rod Saunders and more devices to come 1981 nucleus implant development begins 1982 first nucleus implant 1985 FDA approves the nucleus implant system 1987 first nucleus repentant 1989 new mini speech processor introduced 1990 speech processor improvements 1994 10000 recipient mark 2001 30000 nucleus recipient mark 2010 oldest nucleus recipient