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Brain Implants Help Paralyzed Man Regain Voice
Confirmed
In Short: An experimental brain implant is helping Keith Thomas, who became paralyzed after a spinal cord injury, regain his ability to speak in his own voice, complete with real-time emotion and tone.
An experimental brain implant is helping Keith Thomas, who became paralyzed after a spinal cord injury, regain his ability to speak in his own voice, complete with real-time emotion and tone.
According to ZME Science, volunteers understood 60% of what Thomas said through the implant, compared to just 4% when he tried speaking unaided.
"This is the holy grail in speech BCIs," Christian Herff, a computational neuroscientist at Maastricht University, told Scientific American.
"This is a bit of a paradigm shift," said Silvia Marchesotti, a neuroengineer at the University of Geneva.
The technology, known as a double neural bypass, has also helped Thomas grasp objects, feed himself, and feel his dog’s fur again.
"It’s about independence—and dignity, too, not always needing someone to help wipe your mouth," said Bouton, highlighting the transformative impact of the technology.
The development of brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) is advancing rapidly, with Chinese companies racing to develop and deploy AI-powered BCIs that can help people move, speak, and control devices.
"Imagine living in a world where you couldn’t tell someone you’re in pain, or you couldn’t say that you love them… It’s not hard to imagine how devastating that would be for your quality of life," said a neuroscientist quoted in Science News.
"I began to lose my ability to talk shortly after my diagnosis in 2020," said Harrell, another individual benefiting from BCI technology.
Advances in computing power and AI, along with lessons from patient experience and investments from neurotechnology companies, are starting to yield real progress on BCIs for people who can no longer talk.
"This has really started as early as the 1950s, the first time scientists put electrodes into brains to record neural activity," says Sergey Stavisky, a neuroscientist and neural engineer at UC Davis.
In addition to helping individuals regain their voice, BCIs are also being developed to treat neurological conditions.
What's confirmed
- An experimental brain implant is helping Keith Thomas, who became paralyzed after a spinal cord injury, regain his ability to speak in his own voice, complete with real-time emotion and tone.
- According to ZME Science, volunteers understood 60% of what Thomas said through the implant, compared to just 4% when he tried speaking unaided.
- "This is the holy grail in speech BCIs," Christian Herff, a computational neuroscientist at Maastricht University, told Scientific American.
- "This is a bit of a paradigm shift," said Silvia Marchesotti, a neuroengineer at the University of Geneva.
- The technology, known as a double neural bypass, has also helped Thomas grasp objects, feed himself, and feel his dog’s fur again.
- "It’s about independence—and dignity, too, not always needing someone to help wipe your mouth," said Bouton, highlighting the transformative impact of the technology.
- The development of brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) is advancing rapidly, with Chinese companies racing to develop and deploy AI-powered BCIs that can help people move, speak, and control devices.
- "Imagine living in a world where you couldn’t tell someone you’re in pain, or you couldn’t say that you love them… It’s not hard to imagine how devastating that would be for your quality of life," said a neuroscientist quoted in Science News.
- "I began to lose my ability to talk shortly after my diagnosis in 2020," said Harrell, another individual benefiting from BCI technology.
- Advances in computing power and AI, along with lessons from patient experience and investments from neurotechnology companies, are starting to yield real progress on BCIs for people who can no longer talk.
- "This has really started as early as the 1950s, the first time scientists put electrodes into brains to record neural activity," says Sergey Stavisky, a neuroscientist and neural engineer at UC Davis.
- In addition to helping individuals regain their voice, BCIs are also being developed to treat neurological conditions.
What's still developing
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- "The way they set hard must-do's within 30 days of having a baby is actually insanity," she said.
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- The transcript tells the story of our conversation.
- Although the brain is our most complex organ, the ways to treat it have historically been rather simple.
- At the time, OpenAI said it was funding Merge Labs because of a belief that brain-computer interfaces “will create a natural, human-centered way for anyone to seamlessly interact with AI.” (The name Merge Labs comes from the idea popular in Silicon Valley that humans will eventually merge with machine intelligence.) Thiel’s VC firm has also backed Elon Musk’s Neuralink as well as CTRL-labs, the creator of a wristband that translates neural signals from arm and hand movements that was acquired by Facebook in 2019.