7 Famous Films Featuring Cochlear Implants

Check out these 7  films featuring cochlear implant users here:

Toy Story 4

In 2019, Toy Story 4 came out. It wasn’t long before cochlear implant users and parents were sharing one screenshot from the film: an image of a little boy with dusky blonde hair and a lime green cochlear implant audio processor hooked over his right ear. Photos of kids recreating the pose spread across social media. Charities praised Disney Pixar for their inclusivity. National newspapers even wrote about it. Why? Because despite being used by hundreds of thousands of people around the world, cochlear implants aren’t often represented in popular culture. And for many children with cochlear implants, seeing audio processors on the big screen was an exciting experience. As Lucy Clarke, whose son Ethan has cochlear implants, told a UK newspaper, “The film has changed the way Ethan feels about his implants. He’s proud to be like the boy in the film.”

A Quiet Place

Cochlear implants feature heavily into the plot of this 2018 Hollywood horror film. It’s set in a post-apocalyptic world where sightless extra-terrestrials with hypersensitive hearing have wiped out most of the population. A family of five are trying their best to survive by being as quiet as they can, using American Sign Language to communicate. How do they know ASL? Well, their daughter Regan is deaf. She also has a cochlear implant–which ends up playing a very crucial part in the film. Oh, and the actress who plays Regan wears a cochlear implant in real life!

Sound of Metal

Sound of Metal tells the story of a drummer who suddenly loses his hearing, highlighting the emotional and psychological impact of unexpected sudden deafness. The film portrays the challenges of adapting to this new reality and the hope cochlear implants bring. The movie even earned a nomination for the Oscars thanks to its incredible sound effects.

Take Shelter

This highly-acclaimed 2011 film is about a father who has post-apocalyptic visions and decides to build a shelter. All this is happening in the lead-up to his six-year-old daughter’s cochlear implant surgery. While cochlear implants don’t take center stage, the film certainly helps raise awareness of the impact hearing loss can have on family life.

Battle

Released in August 2019, this Russian-language film is about a talented street dancer who damages his hearing in an accident. While coming to terms with his hearing loss, he starts teaching dance to a group of deaf children. Check out the trailer and you’ll spot quite a few cochlear implants and other hearing devices–including an ADHEAR.

Sonata

This film is based on the true story of Grzegorz, who was misdiagnosed with autism before he discovered that the cause of his social isolation was hearing loss. Receiving a MED-EL hearing implant not only opened up a new world for him but also enabled him to discover his musical talent. You can also read more about Grzegorz in this article about his hearing journey.

Sound and Fury

Another hard-hitting documentary, Sound and Fury was nominated for an Oscar back in 2000. It follows the lives of two brothers who both come from a family with a history of hearing loss. One brother, Chris, is considering getting a CI for his newborn son. Meanwhile, his brother Peter’s oldest daughter Heather wants to get a cochlear implant herself. See what Heather has to say about her experience in this TEDx Talk.

Bonus: Television Shows

Besides movies, more and more TV series are starting to include diverse characters, including deaf characters and cochlear implant users. In 2022, for example, MED-EL user Wawa starred in the seventh season of the famous Fear the Walking Dead series. He portrayed Paul, a deaf musician who wears his cochlear implant to fight the zombies! Or, in the fourth and last season of Sex Education, we are introduced to Aisha, a deaf high school student and CI user. The show also touches on the struggles of a young deaf person navigating a hearing world, just one of its many diversity and inclusivity topics. We’re all for more representation!