The Rhetoric and Counter-Rhetoric of a "Bionic" Technology

Development of the cochlear implant, discussed in this article, depended vitally on deaf people being persuaded to undergo implantation. Media "reconstruction" of the device as the "bionic ear" was typically encouraged by implant pioneers. Unexpectedly, however, a "counter-rhetoric" based on a very different understanding of deafness emerged. With it, deaf people are slowly succeeding in gaining influence over the further deployment of the technology. The analysis suggests modifications to existing theoretical models of technological change in medicine.

[1]  C. Laurenzi.  The bionic ear and the mythology of paediatric implants. , 1993, British journal of audiology.

[2]  S. S. Blume.  Cochlear Implantation: Establishing Clinical Feasibility, 1957–1982 , 1995 .

[3]  N. Kane,et al.  The effect of the Medicare prospective payment system on the adoption of new technology. The case of cochlear implants. , 1989, The New England journal of medicine.

[4]  A. Daar,et al.  Brain Death and Organ Transplantation: Cultural Bases of Medical Technology [and Comments and Reply] , 1994, Current Anthropology.

[5]  N. Rosenberg,et al.  The dynamics of technological change in medicine. , 1994, Health affairs.

[6]  Julius A. Roth,et al.  The experience and management of chronic illness , 1987 .

[7]  A. Plough,et al.  Borrowed Time: Artificial Organs and the Politics of Extending Lives , 1987 .

[8]  J. Sheehan,et al.  The Boundaries of Humanity: Humans, Animals, Machines , 1991 .

[9]  H. Sharlin,et al.  Bell: Alexander Graham Bell and the Conquest of Solitude by Robert V. Bruce (review) , 1974 .

[10]  R. Mccabe.  Spare Parts: Organ Replacement in American Society , 1993 .

[11]  E E Douek,et al.  'Electrical auditory stimulation in the management of profound hearing loss'. , 1979, The Journal of laryngology and otology.

[12]  Raghu Garud,et al.  Modeling contribution‐spans of scientists in a field: the case of cochlear implants , 1992 .

[13]  P. Higgins.  Outsiders in a Hearing World: A Sociology of Deafness , 1981 .

[14]  Jules Paul Seigel.  The Enlightenment and the Evolution of a Language of Signs in France and England , 1969 .

[15]  A. Djourno,et al.  De l'excitation électrique du nerfcochléaire chez l'homme, par induction à distance, a l'aide d'un micro bobinage inclus à demeure. , 1957 .

[16]  S. Webb,et al.  Insight and industry: on the dynamics of technological change in medicine , 1992, Medical History.

[17]  John R. Pierce,et al.  Man's World of Sound , 1959 .

[18]  B. Einspruch.  Deaf in America: Voices From a Culture , 1989 .

[19]  E. Groves.  A Dissertation ON , 1928 .

[20]  Steven Epstein,et al.  The Construction of Lay Expertise: AIDS Activism and the Forging of Credibility in the Reform of Clinical Trials , 1995, Science, technology & human values.

[21]  J. Lave,et al.  The effect of the Medicare prospective payment system. , 1989, Annual review of public health.

[22]  A. Giddens.  The consequences of modernity , 1990 .

[23]  R. Rieber,et al.  A dissertation on speech , 1965 .

[24]  Ghislaine M. Lawrence.  The social construction of technological systems: new directions in the sociology and history of technology , 1989, Medical History.

[25]  D A Kessler,et al.  The Federal regulation of medical devices. , 1987, The New England journal of medicine.