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April 7, 2003

NASA engineer to be inducted into Space Technology Hall of Fame

From: Orlando Business Journal, FL - Apr 7, 2003

Retired NASA/Kennedy Space Center engineer and inventor Adam Kissiah will be officially inducted into the Space Foundation's Space Technology Hall of Fame next week for helping thousands of individuals to hear, some for the very first time.

Kissiah developed the cochlear implant concept more than 25 years ago while working at Kennedy Space Center, utilizing knowledge he acquired working with the space shuttle program, particularly electronic sensing systems, telemetry, and sounds and vibrations sensors.

The Cochlear Implant Association estimates more than 66,000 patients have received an implant in this $1.65 billion industry.

"It's nice to know I contributed to making many lives better," Kissiah says. "It allows me to think that perhaps I did something that helps."

Unlike a hearing aid, which just makes sounds louder, the implant selects speech signal information and then produces a pattern of electrical pulses in the patient's ear.

The Space Foundation will honor Kissiah's work, and five other inducted technologies and innovators, during the Space Technology Hall of Fame 15th Anniversary Awards Dinner April 10 at the Broadmoor Hotel in Colorado Springs.

The Space Foundation, in cooperation with NASA, established the Space Technology Hall of Fame in 1988 to honor innovators who transform space technology into commercial products, to increase public awareness of space spinoff technology benefits and to encourage further innovation.

This year, the foundation celebrates the largest selection of Hall of Fame inductees, bringing total inducted technologies to 44.


© 2003 American City Business Journals Inc.