Geoffrey R. Ball (born 1964) is an American physiologist specializing in Biomechanics and the inventor of the VIBRANT SOUNDBRIDGE active middle ear implant – a medical device designed to treat his own hearing loss.
[1] Since 2003, Geoffrey Ball has been a Chief Technical Officer at hearing implant manufacturer MED-EL in Innsbruck, Austria and has numerous international patents registered in his name.
As a young man, he showed interest in active middle ear implants but was advised that the technology was only in its first development phase and therefore could not be used to treat his hearing loss.
[3] This work led to the development of the Floating Mass Transducer (FMT), a minute electromechanical converter that turns electrical signals into mechanical vibrations.
The device also consists of an internal implant and an external audio processor and can be used to treat conductive and mixed hearing loss, as well as single-sided deafness.
[3] He is the author of his 2011 autobiographical book "No More Laughing at the Deaf Boy" (288 pages, Haymon Verlag, Innsbruck-Vienna) that tells the story from his childhood to the creation and sale of his company Symphonix Devices Inc.[9] His personal experiences as a child with hearing loss has also led Geoffrey Ball to launch “Ideas 4 Ears” young inventor’s competition that encourages children to create innovative ideas that help people with hearing loss.