This photo shows two kinds
of electrodes sitting atop a severely epileptic patient's brain
after part of his skull was removed temporarily.
SCIENTISTS
DECODE WORDS FROM BRAIN SIGNALS
(September
7, 2010) In an early step toward letting
severely paralyzed people speak with their thoughts, University of Utah
researchers translated brain signals into words using two grids of 16
microelectrodes implanted beneath the skull but atop the brain.
"We
have been able to decode spoken words using only signals from the brain with a
device that has promise for long-term use in paralyzed patients who cannot now
speak," says Bradley Greger, an assistant professor of bioengineering.
Because
the method needs much more improvement and involves placing electrodes on the
brain, he expects it will be a few years before clinical trials on paralyzed
people who cannot speak due to so-called "locked-in syndrome."
The
Journal of Neural Engineering's September issue is publishing Greger's study
showing the feasibility of translating brain signals into computer-spoken
words.
The
University of Utah research team placed grids of tiny microelectrodes over
speech centers in the brain of a volunteer with severe epileptic seizures. The
man already had a craniotomy - temporary partial skull removal - so doctors
could place larger, conventional electrodes to locate the source of his
seizures and surgically stop them.
journal reference