A “memory-reading” brain implant has enabled an American to communicate again after a devastating stroke left him speechless.
The device picks up electrical signals sent from the brain to the vocal tract when the patient tries to pronounce code words.
A computer then translates this into letters so that words and then sentences can be projected onto a screen – at a speed of about seven words per minute.
The 36-year-old patient, known only as Pancho, is the first to try the device, which manufacturers hope can be rolled out more widely within a decade.
Scientists at the University of California, San Francisco say it could be used for people with a variety of other speech-depriving conditions, including cerebral palsy.
At the age of 20, Pancho was paralyzed from the neck down by a pontine stroke, a type that can cause locked-in syndrome – in which people can only move their eyes.
He is said to be excited about the device and told investigators he hates hospital food.
The graph above shows how the mind-reading brain implant works. In summary, it reads electrical signals from the brain and translates them into letters to form words. It works at a speed of about seven words per minute, say the scientists
Known only as Pancho (pictured), the patient suffered a stroke at the age of 20 which did not damage his brain but left him unable to speak. It is shown above with the implant inside and “says” an answer to the question on the screen using the device
The device – which contains 128 sensors – is implanted on the surface of the brain, under the skull.
To use it, the patient tries to formulate code words from the NATO phonetic alphabet, such as Alpha, Bravo, Charlie and Delta.
For example, to say the word cat, the patient should try to say the words charlie alpha tango.
A computer analyzes these signals and translates them into the specific character they represent.
Scientists found that each letter took about two seconds to translate.
This is equivalent to about 29 characters per minute, or seven words.
It takes about 30 seconds to complete sentences like “How are you?” ‘Say’ or about 10 seconds to type ‘Hello’.
A total of 1,000 words were spelled by the patient with the device – or 85 percent of the words used in everyday spoken English.
The scientists said it could be expanded to 9,000 words.
The computer misread about 1 letter out of 16.
Sean Metzger, a neurosurgeon involved in the study, said the patient “really enjoyed using this device because it allows him to communicate with us quickly and easily.”
“I had to learn a lot about him,” he added, adding that the patient “really didn’t like the food where he lives.”
Dr. Patrick Degenaar, a neuroprosthetics expert at the University of Newcastle who was not involved in the study, called the results “impressive”.
The patient can still grunt and moan but cannot utter complete words.
Previously, he communicated by using a pointer on the top of a baseball cap to enter words on a screen.
The electrode was implanted in his brain in 2019, after which scientists trained him to translate different brain waves into specific letters.
In the photo above, the patient is (sitting) next to (left to right) Dr. Edward Chang, the neurosurgeon who led the study, Sean Metzger, a graduate student mentioned in this article, David Moses, and Jessie Liu. All scientists were involved in the study
Scientists at the University of California, San Francisco said the device could be used in someone’s home to improve communication with others
Previously, the patient communicated by hitting letters on a screen with a long stick attached to a cap on his head. He can still grunt, but can’t string whole sentences together
A year and a half earlier, he had suffered a stroke in which a blood clot cut off blood flow to the brain stem’s impact area.
The rare stroke can be fatal or leave patients paralyzed, although the exact symptoms vary depending on the location of the stroke.
It is estimated that nearly 5 million Americans live with some form of paralysis, while 700,000 have cerebral palsy.
The study was published in the journal Nature Communications.
Source: Daily Mail
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