William F. House, MD:
Father of Neurotology

 

Institute founder Howard House and his younger brother Bill, were the sons of Milus House, a nationally recognized dentist, researcher and dental prosthesis fabricator. Both Howard and Bill entered medicine, though Bill became a dentist before becoming a physician. He began his studies at Whittier College in 1941 and graduated from the University of California, San Francisco Dental School in 1945. Following two years service as a dentist in the US Navy, Bill decided to pursue the study of maxillofacial surgery. He attended the University of Southern California School of Medicine. He completed his internship and residency in Otolaryngology (Ear, Nose & Throat) in 1956.

During his residency his interests changed as a result of the influence of Howard’s otology practice. Bill joined Howard’s practice in 1956. Those were exciting times for otology and Howard was on the cutting edge. This was the era before surgeries were performed using an operating microscope. When Howard learned that microsurgeries were being performed in Germany, he traveled there to observe. Impressed with what he saw, he ordered a surgical microscope for his practice. This was one of the first operating microscopes used in the USA. Bill was stunned by what he could see through the microscope and began to perform microsurgical ear operations. He worked with engineer Jack Urban to develop a practical observation tube for the microscope so that other doctors could better observe procedures and learn from his techniques.

Bill House was a marvelous innovator, constantly striving to improve surgical methods. To decrease the amount of time taken in surgery, he developed the one-handed surgical irrigation-suction system which is widely used today. From his experience as a dentist, he introduced to otology the use of the diamond burr in bone drilling. He promoted the use of the X-ray to determine when acoustic tumors were responsible for unilateral hearing loss. This allowed the early identification and removal of these tumors. He devised better ways for surgeons to determine the location of the facial nerve, improving surgical outcomes. The facial recess approach he developed gave better access to the middle ear spaces and the cochlea. He developed other new surgical techniques including several procedures for tumor removal . These methods, including the translabyrinthine and middle fossa approaches, contributed to a significant drop in the mortality rate due to acoustic tumors  - from 41% in 1956 to almost zero today.

His signature contribution to otology is the cochlear implant. Inspired to develop such a device in the late 1950’s, he worked with engineer Jack Urban to develop a practical cochlear implant through numerous testing phases, implanting three adult patients in 1969-1970 for device development research and beginning clinical trials with a wearable device in 1973. In 1984 the FDA approved the 3M/House cochlear implant for adults, the first device ever approved to restore one of the human senses.

His innovations even extended to physician education. Working with Jack Urban in 1970, a television camera was incorporated into the surgical microscope. The image generated, along with narration by the physician, was transmitted to an audience. This first instance of televised “real-time” surgery through the operating microscope allowed the training of several physicians at one time. These and other pioneering efforts of Bill House have been widely employed by the medical community during the past half century.