Wireless Brain Implant Helps Woman Reconnect Through Real-Time Conversation
Key Points
- A 68-year-old Michigan woman with a severe speech impairment has used Paradromics’ wireless brain implant to communicate in real time.
- The technology converts brain activity associated with intended speech into text and a computer-generated voice.
- She is the first participant in a nationwide clinical trial that Paradromics plans to expand to 10 patients.
A promising advance in neurotechnology is helping a woman who has lost most of her natural speech communicate more freely with the people she loves.
Paradromics, a neurotechnology company founded in 2015 by CEO Matt Angle, announced that its experimental brain implant enabled a 68-year-old Michigan patient to have spontaneous conversations through a computer-generated voice. According to The New York Times, she has even used the system during phone calls with her grandchildren.
The woman has primary lateral sclerosis, a neurological disease that damages the nerve cells responsible for movements involved in speaking, swallowing and walking. Although she retains some control of her speech muscles, most listeners have difficulty understanding her.
Turning Brain Activity Into Spoken Words
Paradromics’ technology is a brain-computer interface, or BCI. These systems use electrodes implanted in the brain to detect neural activity, which artificial intelligence can then interpret and translate into language.
When the patient attempts to speak, the implant recognizes activity connected to the words she intends to say. That information travels wirelessly to a computer, where her words appear as text and are spoken aloud by a synthetic voice.
Encouragingly, the system can also interpret signals when she imagines speaking without moving her speech muscles. Angle said the technology can recognize several forms of brain activity related to language.
“We can see the representation of words and phonemes whether she tries to say it, she imagines it or even if she just listens to it,” Angle told the Times.
Because the implant communicates wirelessly, the patient does not need to remain physically connected to a computer by a cord. Experts said that freedom represents meaningful progress toward making brain-computer interfaces practical in everyday life.
A Hopeful Beginning for the Clinical Trial
The woman became the first participant to receive Paradromics’ Connexus brain-computer interface as part of a clinical trial. Doctors implanted the device, which contains more than 400 electrodes, at University of Michigan Health in June.
In a demonstration released by Paradromics, researchers invited her to say whatever she wished. Her natural speech was difficult to understand, but the technology promptly delivered her message through a computer-generated voice: “Okay, I have a lot to say.”
Paradromics intends to enroll 10 participants across the United States. The trial will include people living with conditions that cause paralysis or interfere with speech and movement, including stroke and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, according to Dr. William Marks, the company’s chief clinical officer.
Dr. Edward Chang, chairman of neurological surgery at the University of California, San Francisco, was not involved in the trial but welcomed the development. Chang has spent years working to advance brain-computer interface technology.
“Their demonstration gets us one step closer to clinical reality for restoring speech communication for people with severe paralysis,” Chang told the Times.
For the trial’s first participant, the technology has already opened a valuable new path to conversation. For researchers and future patients, it offers fresh hope that people with severe speech limitations may one day communicate more naturally, independently and joyfully.
