Brain-computer interface (BCI) technology can restore the ability to communicate with people who can no longer speak or move.
According to an article published in Nature, an experimental device has helped a paralyzed man type his handwritten letters into text with a 95% accuracy.
The 65-year-old man was paralyzed after an accident, leaving him with arms and legs that he can no longer move. He was simply taking out the garbage when he slipped, fell, and instantly became quadriplegic, NPR reported.
Researchers noted that the device is most useful to people who could neither move nor speak, especially those who have spinal cord injury but wants to send an email ad go back to work.
They are interested in commercializing the experimental approach to decode how brain signals work to create a functional system of networks.
BCI Lets Paralyzed Man Produce 90 Characters Per Minute
The paralyzed man was also a participant of the BrainGate2, an experimental system that allows paralyzed people to control computers and other devices using only their thoughts.
The system uses electrodes that are implanted near the part of the brain that controls movement. By imagining that they are moving their arms, participants in previous studies had learned to control a computer cursor or robotic arm.
Researchers Krishna Shenoy and neurosurgeon Dr. Jaimie Henderson of Stanford University said that they had the man imagine he was writing letters by hand while a computer monitors his brain activity. Eventually, it learned to decode the specific electric activity in the brain by associating each letter of the alphabet as well as symbols.
"We can determine if the letter you wrote is an A or a B or a C and then plop that up on the screen and you're able to spell out words and sentences and so forth one letter at a time," Shenoy said.
In this way, it enabled the man to produce 90 characters or 15 words per minute, similar to an average rate his age could compose a text message on a smartphone, New Atlas reported.
In contrast, existing assistive technology that requires paralyzed participants to imagine moving their hand to move a computer cursor could only produce 40 characters per minute at top speed.
How Do BCIs Work in Medicine?
According to an article in Mayo Clinic Proceedings, brain-computer interfaces (BCIS) analyze obtained brain signals to translate them into commands that are relayed in output devices to carry out desired actions.
The main goal of BCIs, especially in the field of medicine, is to enable patients with neuromuscular disorders to communicate again.
BCIs have come a long way from "electroencephalography-based spelling and single-neuron-based device control to electroencephalographic, intracortical, electrocorticographic, and other brain signals" to perform increasingly complex tasks.
Shenoy said that it is surprising that the brain-to-text technology could work on even long after the injury, Science News reported. Wherein so much time has passed that a paralyzed person has not been able to use their limbs but the device could still pick up brain signals that are still very active.
RELATED ARTICLE : Wireless Brain-Computer Allows Paralyzed People to Type on PCs with Their Minds, Wherever They Are
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