Implantable Prosthesis May Help Blind See.

People walk through doorways every day without seeing them--some because they take the commonplace for granted, others because they are blind. One day, the blind may actually be able to visualize a door or work on a computer, thanks to research being done at Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago.

Philip Troyk, associate professor of electrical and computer engineering, is leading a team of researchers in producing a visual prosthesis device that may offer sight to the sightless. These implants would be used to stimulate electronically a person's visual cortex, the part of the brain responsible for processing and analyzing light. To achieve this, Troyk's team is developing the electronics as well as the hermetic packaging for the device, which measures one inch long, one inch wide, and a quarter-inch high. It is made up of four ceramic submodules, each with custom integrated circuits controlling 64 channels, for a total...