Breakthrough: A Re-sounding Remedy

In 2004, pediatric audiologist Allyson Sisler-Dinwiddie plunged into a world of silence after a car accident damaged her hearing. Under the care of hearing researcher Rene Gifford, she became one of the first test subjects of a new technique to improve cochlear implants, devices that use electrodes to stimulate cells in the inner ear. Since then, Sisler-Dinwiddie and Gifford have worked together to restore other patients' hearing. Watch the pair and their team at Vanderbilt University as they develop a resounding remedy to help people hear again.
A film by Science Friday. Produced in collaboration with the Howard Hughes Medical Institute
Produced by Emily V. Driscoll and Luke Groskin
Directed by Emily V. Driscoll
Filmed by Jeff Nash
Edited by Erika Sutter
Music by Audio Network
Photographs by Vanderbilt University, Rene Gifford, Allyson Sisler-Dinwiddie
Hearing and Cochlear Implant Animations provided by MED-EL Jack Noble, and Vanderbilt Bill Wilkerson Center

Vanderbilt Team and Patients: Stephen Ball, Tim Davis, David Haynes, Kendall Hill, David Lewellen, Jack Noble Alejandro Rivas, and Morgan Stansberry

Project Advisors: Laura A. Helft, Laura Bonetta, Dennis W.C. Liu and Sean B. Carroll - Howard Hughes Medical Institute

Special Thanks to Rene Gifford, Allyson Sisler-Dinwiddie, Keli S. Lawrence, Kate Carney, Charles Johnson, Christian Skotte, Danielle Dana, Ariel Zych, and Jennfier Fenwick

Science Friday/HHMI © 2016