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.