Successful video podcast “Hearing Conversations” about the Miracle of Hearing 

Birgitt Valenta

Initiated by the MED-EL Initiative HÖREN BEWEGT, this video podcast combines inspiring life stories with the central theme of listening. The 47 episodes now tell us how important listening is for our experience, our relationships and our everyday working life – from very different perspectives. Many more talks will follow.

CI user and footballer Lara Walzer about her life full of sounds. ©Philipp Hicker

Celebrity meets personal depth

Whether cabaret, royal house, sound art or sport – in the audio conversations various personalities have their say. Football legend Hans Krankl talks openly about his tinnitus experiences and his hearing care. Dirk Stermann & Christoph Grissemann, Austria's satirical dream couple, give a humorous look behind the scenes of their listening worlds. Princess Marie of Liechtenstein, in turn, shows how much listening belongs to the social and diplomatic craft.

Cultural greats are also honouring themselves: comedian Viktor Gernot reveals why he can sometimes "hear" the audience smile. The singer Juliette Khalil, whose path led from the children's choir in the Vienna State Opera to the limelight of the Volksoper, tells of the role of listening in the musical performance and its connections to people with cochlear implants. Musical actor Lukas Perman, on the other hand, talks about silence as his personal source of strength.

Andi Knoll, Chris Lohner, Barbara Karlich – they all know about the power of voice and how elementary listening is. Robert Stachel, the "talker" of the satirical group Maschek, reflects on how language, rhythm and sound shape his work. Robert Steiner and his best friend Rolf Rüdiger, dream team at ORF Vienna, are probably the funniest guests at the audio conversations, Cathedral pastor Toni Faber among the most touching.

Robert Steiner with Rolf Rüdiger/Stefan Gaugusch and the audio interview team ©franzjohann Agentur

When expertise meets empathy

In addition to well-known personalities, leading experts will of course also have their say: DI Ewald Thurner, Head of MED-EL Vienna, was available for the first episode of the audio conversations. The experienced hearing implant specialist tells you how much pioneering spirit and conviction have always driven him and continue to do so.

Prof. Dr. Georg Sprinzl, senior ENT specialist from St. Pölten, impressively explains how cochlear implants can change life. Prof. Dr. Martin Burian provides personal insights into the history of modern hearing technologies – his family is closely linked to their medical breakthrough.

CIA President Prof. Dr. Wolf-Dieter Baumgartner, with over 2000 cochlear implants one of the most experienced ENT surgeons in Austria, shares moving stories from his career and emphasises the emotional importance of giving people back hearing. The current departing director of the ENT University Clinic of the Vienna General Hospital, Univ.-Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Gstöttner, is one of the pioneers in hearing implantations and draws on his rich experience.

Episodes with experts such as Univ. Prof. Dr. Doris-Maria Denk-Linnert, who is a specialist for voice, speech and hearing at the AKH (General Hospital) Vienna, or Prof. Priv. Dr. Astrid Magele, one of the few ENT surgeons in Austria, are also exciting.

People in the museum also have their say in the podcast: Julia Sparber-Ablinger, director of the Innsbruck Audiomuseum (Audioversum), the house of music director Simon Posch or Markus Hübl, a gifted art mediator. For her, too, the sense of hearing is at the centre of her work alongside vision.

The conversation with Stefanie Muck is particularly valuable for users. As an elementary pedagogue, speech therapist, rehabilitation expert and technician at MED-EL, she is a real all-rounder when it comes to hearing.

Radio Wien presenter Carola Gausterer as a fixed institution at the radio talks ©Philipp Hicker

Hearing Heroes of Everyday Life

It becomes particularly emotional when people speak themselves. Professional singer Laura Korhonen has resumed her career thanks to cochlear implants – a true pioneer on stage and in medicine. The young footballer Lara Walzer impresses with ambition and joy, yet she was born deaf.

Presentation with feeling

Carola Gausterer, well-known voice at Radio Wien, is already leading the talks traditionally. With a lot of warmth, curiosity and journalistic professionalism, she succeeds in giving the guests space – space for emotions, new insights and inspiration.

Why listen in?

Listening conversations is not a specialist podcast in the classical sense – it is much more. An acoustic and visual kaleidoscope of human experience. For the hearing, for the hearing impaired, for the curious. The conversations are empathetic, informative and profound – with a clear message: listening is more than a meaning. It is connection.

Listen and check out: All these and other exciting episodes can be found on as well as on popular platforms like Spotify and YouTube.