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NASA News 
National Aeronautics and
Space Administration

John F. Kennedy Space Center
Kennedy Space Center, Florida 32899
AC 321-867-2468
_____________________________________________________________________
For Release: April 4, 2003      

Bruce Buckingham
Kennedy Space Center, Fla.
(321) 867-2468                      

KSC Release No. 27- 03

NASA ENGINEER KISSIAH INDUCTED TO SPACE TECHNOLOGY HALL OF FAME

Retired NASA/Kennedy Space Center engineer and inventor Adam Kissiah
will be officially inducted to 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 over 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 said. "That's special. 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. Although it is impossible to
make sounds completely natural, because a mere 22 electrodes are
replacing the function of thousands of hair cells in a normal hearing
ear, the implant still serves as an excellent rehabilitative device. 

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. Representing the ceremony's co-sponsor,
Northrop Grumman Space Technology, company president Ronald Sugar
will serve as the evening's host. NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe,
and former astronaut and NASA Administrator Richard Truly will be
special guest presenters. 

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 spin-off 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. 

For more information, visit www.spacefoundation.org or contact
Stephanie Schierholz at 719/576-8000 or stephanie{at}spacefoundation.org

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