His great achievement was also the establishment of ultramodern diagnostic-treatment-rehabilitation complex for otolaryngology, audiology and phoniatrics – the International Center of Hearing and Speech in Kajetany near Warsaw.

“My greatest international scientific achievement was the use, for the first time in the world, of the joint electric and acoustic stimuli of the inner ear and the development of a novel method for treatment of partial hearing loss” – he says.

Prof. Skarżyński was the co-author of several modern programmes, procedures and diagnostic, treatment and rehabilitation methods in Poland.In 1992 he implemented a novel programme, first in this part of Europe, for treatment of hearing loss by cochlear implants and a year later he established a new programme for hearing and speech rehabilitation for patients with total hearing loss, who had undergone a surgery.

In 1994 Prof. Skażyński established a programme for treatment of tinnitus and sound hypersensitivity with the use of a novel method called Tinnitus Retraining Theraphy (TRT). In 1997 he also implemented a method for treatment of congenital defects of the external and middle ear. A year later he started in Poland, as the fourth country in world, the programme for treatment of hearing loss with cochlear implants in the brain trunk.

In 1998 he created the organisational basis for the programme enabling early diagnosis of hearing impairments in newborns and infants. In 1999, for the first time in Poland, he established a programme for hearing and speech rehabilitation of patients with cochlear implants in the brain trunk.

Henryk Skażyński was born in 1954 in Rosochate-Kościelne. In 1979 he graduated from the Faculty of Medicine of the Warsaw Medical University. He received the Ph.D. title in 1983 and qualified as assistant professor in 1989. Since 1995 he is the professor of medicine.

In 1980 Henryk Skarżyński started his medical career at the Chair and Clinic of Otolaryngology of the Warsaw Medical University. He was the vice-head of the department, the head of the department and the vice-head of the Clinic. Since 2002 he directs the Chair of Audiology and Phoniatrics of the Fryderyk Chopin Academy of Music in Warsaw.

In 1993-1995 he was the director of the Diagnostic-Treatment-Rehabilitation Center for People with Total or Partial Hearing Loss “Cochlear-Center”.Since 1996 Prof. Skarżyński directs the Institute of Physiology and Pathology of Hearing in Warsaw. In 1999-2003 he was the Head of the Clinic of Ear Diseases. Since 2003 he is also the director of the International Center of Hearing and Speech in Kajetany near Warsaw.

Prof. Skarżyński has also some great international experience, having worked at research centres in the USA, Germany, France, Switzerland, Sweden, Russia and China. He had also worked in Austria, Belgium, Slovakia and Slovenia.Prof. Skażyński is actively involved in teaching. Between 1993 and 2004 he organised eight international scientific conferences in Poland, 53 science workshops as part of the Centre for Post-Graduate Medical Teaching (abbr. CMKP) and medical courses as well as 31 courses in ear microsurgery. He also organised Polish-American, British-Polish, Belgian-Polish and French-Polish symposia.

In 1985-2004 he directed 23 research programmes in Poland, funded by the Ministry, the State Committee for Scientific Research and the Foundation for Polish Science. He is the co-author of nine patents and seven patent proposals in 49 foreign countries.

Prof. Skarżyński is the author and co-author of over 700 publications and over 600 conference papers in otolaryngology, audiology, phoniatrics, rehabilitation, acoustics and biomedical engineering, among which 30 percent were presented and published abroad.He is also the editor-in-chief of the "Central and East European Journal of Oto-Rhino-Laryngology and Head and Neck Surgery (CEEJOHNS)" and the member of the editorial board of "Otology and Neurology". He is also the main editor of the magazine „Słyszę...”.

Prof. Skażyński is the member of numerous Polish and international societies and the winner of several scientific and social prizes and awards. He received the Gold Medal during Eureka 2002 in Brussels and the Medal from the Croatian Inventors Association for his multimedia systems for investigating hearing, speech and sight. In 2002 the World Health - Mind - Heart Foundation awarded

Prof. Skarżyński with the tile of the Health Promotion Leader in Poland.His free time Henryk Skarżyński spends on close contacts with nature. He breeds horses.

He also likes sports – plays football and skis. He is married and has two sons, Piotr and Andrzej. His wife, Bożena, is a dentist and employee of the Warsaw Medical University.

Joanna Poros, trans. Zuzanna Stasińska