Wireless Devices Could Help Brain-Injured Patients Speak

Posted on December 20, 2009 in Health & Medicine, Technology

Wireless devices could soon help brain-injured patients speak by scanning their minds, new research suggests.

Cognitive neuroscientist Frank Guenther at Boston University and his colleagues are working to develop a brain-machine interface that uses electrodes implanted directly into the brain to transmit communication. LiveScience reported that paralyzed individuals may soon be able to produce speech via a laptop computer.
The scientists tested out their new invention on a 26-year-old volunteer who had experienced near-total paralysis. The electrode recorded brain signals when the volunteer tried to talk and wirelessly transmitted them to a speech synthesizer. There was a 50 millisecond delay between brain activity and sound output, which is considered average.

The current system uses only two wires, but Guenther predicted that a system with 16 times as many wires will be available within a year. The intended result is better control over the synthesizer and speech.