As the Chief Evangelist of Australia’s very own Canva and former chief evangelist at Apple, Guy Kawasaki has spent a lifetime spreading the “good news” of innovation and has been a driving force behind both companies rise.

But his most personal innovation story is one of resilience and technology: his journey with hearing loss and the life-changing impact of a cochlear implant.

A Silent Shift

Guy’s hearing loss began with a diagnosis of Meniere’s disease in his 40s—a condition that brought vertigo, tinnitus and gradual hearing decline. “At first it was just vertigo and tinnitus,” he says, “but then I started to lose hearing. About five years ago I completely lost my right ear.”

For years, single-sided deafness wasn’t eligible for cochlear implantation in the United States. But when that changed, Guy didn’t hesitate. “I’m a geek,” he laughs. “I said, sounds good to me—let’s do this.”

The results were immediate.

“My audiologist said, ‘If you can hear any sound at all, it’s a success.’ And boom—we were having a conversation. It was instant success.”

Embracing a New Normal

As a podcaster, speaker and author, communication is central to Guy’s work.

“Without a cochlear implant, I mean, I would be living in a cone of silence. Trying being a deaf podcaster trying to interview someone like Neil deGrass Tyson by reading Chrome’s live captions. It’s almost impossible. I’ve tried.”

Even with success, the experience isn’t without its challenges. “You realise how noisy the world is. Cochlear implants pick up everything, and your brain has to learn how to tune that out.” It’s why he believes research to improve implant technology—like AI that prioritises familiar voices in noisy backgrounds—is crucial.

The Bionics Institute Frontier of Research: nanotherapeutic to restore hearing loss and improving Australia’s cochlear implant

Guy’s experience mirrors the Bionics Institute’s drive to constantly improve the cochlear implant and hearing outcomes.

When he hears about new treatments—like the Bionics Institute’s nanotechnology to develop a world-first drug treatment for hearing loss – a novel technology to regrow cells in the ear—his response is emphatic:

“I don’t know how you could make my life better than that. If I could get my hearing back without tech, of course I would. But until then, this (cochlear implant) is the best tech investment I’ve ever made.”

An Evangelist for Innovation

Though known for his work with tech giants Canva and Apple, Guy is a vocal advocate for health innovation. His podcast, Remarkable People, gives a platform to thinkers and changemakers—and his story sits among them.

True to his career as an evangelist of disruptive technologies, Guy describes the legacy of the cochlear implant as “a total game changer,”

Guy Kawasaki isn’t just spreading the good news in driving innovation, he’s living it.

Guy’s Remarkable People podcast seeks to learn from some of the most successful people in the world to provide practical tips for listeners and features guests such as Jane Goodall, Melanie Perkins, Steve Wozniak and Margaret Atwood.

Listen to Guy Kawasaki’s Remarkable People podcast today: https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/guy-kawasakis-remarkable-people/id1483081827