TI to Receive 2007 Vision Award for Technology Advancements that Help the Blind

Technology makes a difference everyday in how the blind interact with the world and TI has consistently been there offering its support, said Helen Harris, founder and inspiration behind RPI. For taking the initiative to help RPI from our earliest days and consistently pushing the envelope on how to apply technology to reduce the impact of blindness, I proudly recognize Texas Instruments with this 2007 Vision Award.

On behalf of Texas Instruments, Frantz said, Many of the technology pieces required to restore a level of vision are well understood and being tested today. I praise Helen for her tireless efforts in pushing
TI and all technologists to develop increasingly innovative solutions that can change people's lives.

Signal processing in real-time is critical to applications involving sight and sound because of the speed at which the body can process and respond to information. TI analog and digital components provide that real-time connection to the external world. These chips have been included in a number of devices designed to assist the visually impaired, including a speech recognition computer that reads back text and converts speech to text; a TheatreVision set-top box that adds audio
commentary and scene descriptions to movies and TV, enriching the entertainment experience for the blind community; and a processor that translates incoming information from retinal implants to deliver sight to the blind. Led by a team at the University of Southern California, a limited number of patients have received early versions of these implants and, today, are helping researchers test and improve this
technology.