William F. House

Who was William F. House?

William Fouts House was an American otologist, physician and medical researcher who developed and invented the cochlear implant. The cochlear implant is considered to be the first invention to restore not just the sense of hearing, but any of the absent five senses in humans.

House was born on December 1, 1923, in Kansas City, Missouri, and moved to Whittier, California, when he was three years old. House completed pre-dental degrees at Whittier College and the University of Southern California. He then enrolled at the University of California, Berkeley, where he received a doctorate in dentistry. House next earned a medical degree from the University of Southern California after two years in the U.S. Navy. His older half brother, Howard P. House, was also a physician and was focused on otology, founding the House Ear Institute in 1946. William House eventually adopted the same focus.

House's first design for a cochlear implant was surgically implanted in 1961, but the implant was rejected by the patient's body. A longer lasting model was developed and successfully implanted in 1969.