Electronics in medicine: Exploiting microprocessors; new hearing and seeing aids are developed; diagnostic imaging is refined

Advances in devices for the handicapped continue apace. In the very early experimental stages are implanted devices that stimulate the brain´s visual cortex to enable blind persons to “see” and that stimulate the cochlea, or inner ear, to enable deaf persons to “hear.” Closer to commercial reality are a host of other devices. The behind-the-scenes star of virtually all is the microprocessor. It is rapidly opening doors to innovation, to versatility through redesign, and to cost-cutting.