Habilitation beyond the Bionic Metaphor: Producing Deafnesses of the Future

In this article, we travel back to the early days of experimental use cochlear implants (CIs) in 1970s, when unsettled expectations device and broad investigations its effects began settle center on speech outcomes. We describe how attention outcomes coalesced into specific understandings what CIs do, implicit or explicit as bionic devices that normalize hearing influenced research present. conclude accumulated evidence about is known unknown experiences materialities with calls for a decisive break from metaphor ear. This shift would create space reconsider “deafness history present,” well brain–computer interfaces are inclusive nonnormative life. article based fieldwork clinical facilities Australia, Canada, United States. It included forty-three interviews experts leading researchers fields audiology, psychoacoustics, neuroscience, among them scientists involved development commercialization one first CIs.