100-year-old Jack Walley of Birmingham is the oldest person in the world to wear a cochlear implant after being operated on in the 1960s. With the help of his implant, Jack Walley has been able to enjoy his radio programs. During his operation when he was 83 years old, there was controversy on the risks of an operation like this on a patient his age. But Jack’s implant improved his quality of life immensely, and it has been working just as well as from the first day he wore it. The surgeon, David Proops, a consulting ENT specialist in the hospital of the University of Birmingham says, “This story shows that no one is too old to have cochlear implants. There is a group of people who are 70 years old and over whose quality of life could be improved, but they have not yet taken the first step to become implanted. As life expectancy increases, a female baby born today can have a life expectancy of up to 104 years old. We therefore have to seriously rethink the way we perceive the older generations.”