Michael Chorost

Michael Chorost, Ph.D., is an author, technology theorist, and public speaker recognized for his work on how technology facilitates communication. Born with severe hearing loss due to rubella, Chorost began speaking after receiving hearing aids at age 3½. He completed his education and worked as a technical writer in Silicon Valley. Chorost holds a Bachelor of Arts in English from Brown University and a doctorate from the University of Texas at Austin. After losing the remaining hearing in his one usable ear, he received a cochlear implant.

Chorost is the author of "Rebuilt: How Becoming Part Computer Made Me More Human," a memoir detailing his experience of going deaf, receiving a cochlear implant, and relearning how to hear. The book received the PEN/USA Book Award for Creative Nonfiction and was described by the Los Angeles Times as the first cyborg memoir. In "Rebuilt," Chorost discusses how adapting to his cochlear implant influenced his approach to creativity and technology, drawing on his background in computer programming, Renaissance literature, and cultural theory.

His second book, "World Wide Mind: The Coming Integration of Humanity, Machines, and the Internet," examines the potential for integrating neural data with digital technology to enhance human communication. The book was named a Notable Nonfiction Book in Scientific American. Chorost also co-wrote the PBS television show "The 22nd Century."

Chorost's writing has appeared in Wired, New Scientist, Astronomy Now, The Futurist, The Scientist, Technology Review, Chronicle of Higher Education, SKY, Smithsonian, Slate, Washington Post, and the New Yorker blog. He is frequently interviewed by national media, including PBS NewsHour, New York Times, and The Economist, as an authority on cochlear implants and neurally controlled prosthetics. Chorost lectures at universities, conferences, corporations, and organizations for the deaf, focusing on the intersection of neuroscience, assistive technology, and human experience.