Technology has also come to the aid of those whose disabilities make even simple, everyday communication difficult. Some of the most remarkable advances reach deep into the nervous system, or into the brain itself, to help link the internal and external realms. In 1991, for example, Robert Shannon of the House Ear Institute in California received a Discover award for his invention of an auditory brain stem implant. His efforts were aimed at people afflicted with a rare form of neural tumor that required surgeons to cut the nerves that normally carry sound information. The components convert sounds into electric signals that are transmitted directly to the brain.
Clinical trials continue today.
This year, Philip Kennedy of Neural Signals has taken that idea even further. The implant, a tiny glass cone, detects electrical activity in certain parts of the brain's motor cortex. That pattern is then interpreted to control the movements of a computer cursor, which is placed on icons that activate the computer to speak commonly used phrases and type names. Some of the most intriguing technologies Discover has come across started with government or military funding. In 1991, for instance, Ralph Eschenbach and Trimble Navigation received a Discover award for finding consumer uses for the global positioning system.