[Ip-health] NASA role in development of Cochlear Implant

Sat, 28 Sep 2002 10:43:00 -0400

My mother regained her hearing after receiving a Cochlear Implant, which is
a remarkable invention.  Jamie

http://www.newschannel2000.com/news/1684501/detail.html

Central Florida Man Helps People Hear Again

Former NASA Engineer Developed Cochlear Implant

POSTED: 3:41 p.m. EDT September 24, 2002
UPDATED: 6:59 p.m. EDT September 24, 2002
MERRITT ISLAND, Fla. -- The central Florida man responsible for restoring
the hearing of thousands of people is finally getting some recognition.

Adam Kissiah

Former NASA engineer Adam Kissiah was a driving force behind an ear-implant
device that's nothing short of miraculous, WESH NewsChannel 2 reported.

But he hasn't received much credit, until now.

Kissiah began to lose his hearing about 30 years ago. It was about the time
the Apollo program was wrapping up, and he was working at the Kennedy Space
Center as an engineer. When three operations failed to correct his hearing,
Kissiah was worried his career would go the way of Apollo.

Then he started studying the ear, applying the principles he had learned on
the job to the problem. And he found that the solution was in engineering,
not medicine.

"They were doing it wrong," he explained.

NASA helped Kissiah get a patent for a model of what later became the
cochlear implant, a device that has restored hearing ability in thousands of
people.

The implant is made up of several pieces. A microphone picks up sounds and
sends them to a speech processor that converts them into digital signals. A
transmitter beams those signals to a receiver under the skin. The signals
then go to an electrode attached inside the cochlea. The signals stimulate
nerve endings, which send the sound information to the brain.

Political commentator Rush Limbaugh is the most well-known person to undergo
the procedure. But Kissiah, whose patent in the 1970s formed the basis for
the implant, was forgotten. He's received little credit and less money for
his invention.

"The patent has been infringed. Others are using it," he said.

Now Kissiah has been named to receive a NASA Space Act award, and has been
recognized by the IEEE engineering management society. He has not pursued
recognition or legal action. He said the most important thing is knowing
what he's done.

"It's amazing to see people hear again," he explained.

Kissiah will receive an award of $21,000 from NASA next month. It's the
largest financial award ever given to a Kennedy Space Center inventor.

To comment on this story, send an e-mail to Dan Billow.

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James Love, Consumer Project on Technology
http://www.cptech.org, mailto:love@cptech.org
voice: 1.202.387.8030; mobile 1.202.361.3040