A Brain Implant that Works with a Speech Computer
It has now been nearly five years since a Brown University spinout, Brain Gate, demonstrated how its neural implant allowed a 58 year old woman suffering from “Locked-in” paralysis to send her mental signals to a robotic arm, allowing her to drink a cup of coffee. Researchers at the University Medical Center (Utrecht, The Netherlands) have recently advanced that technology is a brain-implanted device that connects wirelessly to a speech computer. It works like this: “The patient operates the speech computer by moving her fingers in her mind. This changes the brain signal under the electrodes. That change is converted into a mouse click. On a screen in front of her she can see the alphabet, plus some additional functions such as deleting a letter or word and selecting words based on the letters she has already spelled. The letters on the screen light up one by one. She selects a letter by influencing the mouse click at the right moment with her brain. That way she can compose words, letter by letter, which are then spoken by the speech computer.” MORE and Watch You Tube Video
Image Credit: UMC Utrecht