Brain Implant Unlocks Speech for ALS Patient
Engineering360 News Desk | November 14, 2016An implanted brain–computer interface has restored the ability of a patient with late-stage amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) to communicate.
Electrodes were placed over the motor cortex and a transmitter placed subcutaneously in the left side of the patient’s chest by University Medical Center Utrecht researchers in the Netherlands.
By attempting to move the hand on the side opposite the implanted electrodes, the female patient independently controls a computer typing program. Thinking about pressing a specific letter on the computer screen sends a corresponding signal to the electrodes, which is sent to the transmitter and converted to a mouse click. In this way words are composed, letter by letter, which are then spoken by the speech computer.
“This is a major breakthrough in achieving autonomous communication among severely paralyzed patients whose paralysis is caused by ALS, a cerebral hemorrhage or trauma,” says Professor Nick Ramsey, professor of cognitive neuroscience. “In effect, this patient has had a kind of remote control placed in her head, which enables her to operate a speech computer without the use of her muscles.”