What was the first 3D printed bionic ear in the story?

In May 2013, researchers in nanotechnology at Princeton University, New Jersey, in collaboration with John Hopkins University, conceived the first artificial ear printed in 3D that could receive radio signals.

Ears

The 3D ear was made with a normal 3D printer and a hydrogel, a material used as a framework in tissue engineering, was used as a raw material. The ear can receive signals with a frequency range of up to 5 Ghz.

The team, led by engineer Michael McAlpine, was the first to create a fully functional organ that reproduces and even expands the capabilities of its human counterpart.

However, before this ear, Stelarc, an artist from Curtin University in Perth (Australia) implanted an ear in his arm in 2007.

The research and background research delayed the project for ten years, but Stelarc finally found three plastic surgeons who made an ear from their own cells and a biocompatible framework that is often used in cosmetic surgery operations. The cells grew around this frame until it became a living part of its enclosure with its own blood supply. Beyond that, of course, Stelarc can not hear anything through this new ear.