This review is based on my 2025 Jepson Lecture and outlines my personal journey to restore hearing in people with a severe sensorineural hearing loss. My dream started as a 5-year-old as I told my kindergarten teacher when I grow up 'I want to fix ears' because my father is deaf. The journey resulted in a career in surgery followed by auditory neuroscience, engineering and audiology....
✦ The floor
Discussion
Signed responses from readers of the wire.
No actionable change — this is a personal career narrative and reflective review with no new clinical evidence or guideline recommendations.
Personal reflections from pioneering surgeons can provide historical context and inspire innovation at the intersection of audiology, surgery, and biomedical engineering.
- 01Review is based on the 2025 Jepson Lecture, a prestigious invited address in surgery.
- 02Covers a surgeon's career restoring hearing in patients with severe sensorineural (nerve-related) hearing loss.
- 03Discusses contributions to biomedical engineering alongside clinical surgical work.
- 04Published in ANZ Journal of Surgery; narrative/opinion in nature, not a clinical trial.
- 05No new clinical data presented; value is primarily historical and inspirational.
- PMID
- 42833858
- DOI
- 10.1111/ans.70946.
- Journal
- ANZ Journal of Surgery
- Publication type
- editorial
- Evidence level
- 5
- Population
- Not applicable — narrative career review
- Intervention
- Surgical and biomedical engineering career contributions to restoring hearing in severe sensorineural hearing loss
Primary outcomes
Narrative account of career milestones in hearing restoration surgery and biomedical engineering