Having a deaf doctor is enabling Grey's Anatomy to bring in new cutting-edge technologies

Variety

Some of these new tools will be seen in next week's episode, says showrunner Krista Vernoff, speaking of deaf actress Shoshannah Stern's debut as Dr. Riley on Thursday's episode. Vernoff says the tools "I believe, are paving a path for more and more hearing impaired people to become doctors and get to thrive in a traditional hospital environment. I feel like representation is everything. And that really excites all of us.”