"I'm still struck almost speechless when I see these 5-year-old kids and talk to them as they're running around, and the conversation occurs at normal tones, and they're deaf, they're deaf as a post; it's just a remarkable thing to see", says Peter Roland, chair of the department of otolaryngology and head and neck surgery at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, TX, USA. 23 years ago Roland fitted his first cochlear implant, threading a gossamer-thin electrode into the spiral-shaped cavity of a child's cochlea, and completely changing their perception of the world in the process. 30 years after the first pioneering patients received their prototype implants, more than 300000 individuals now wear the devices, and this year, for their "vision, persistence, and innovation" in developing the modern cochlear implant, the 2013 Lasker-DeBakey Clinical Medical Research Award was awarded to Ingeborg Hochmair, Graeme Clark, and Blake Wilson.-
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