A New Medical Breakthrough: Paralyzed People Speak Their Minds

Paralyzed People Speak Their Minds                                          

                                                

A New Medical Breakthrough: Paralyzed People Speak Their Minds

A recent study has found that brain-computer interface (BCI) technology can read the "inner speech," or unspoken thoughts, of people with paralysis and aphasia.

The study, led by a team from Stanford University in collaboration with several American universities and published in the journal Cell, involved four people with severe motor and speech impairments. They had microarrays of electrodes implanted in the areas of the brain responsible for speech. The results showed that imagining speech in their mind generated clear patterns of neural activity similar to, but to a lesser extent than, the patterns produced by an actual speech attempt.

Converting It to Words

Using artificial intelligence algorithms, the researchers were able to decode these signals and convert them into words, opening the door to developing future systems that would allow people with paralysis to communicate seamlessly using only their thoughts, without the need for speech or muscle movement.

Although the technology is still in the proof-of-concept stage, scientists warn of the possibility of unintentional "leakage" of inner thoughts, stressing that they are working on solutions to prevent this in future generations of these systems. For the current generation of these interfaces, which are designed to decode neural activity resulting from actual speech attempts, the researchers demonstrated in their study a new method to train the system to more effectively ignore inner speech, preventing it from being accidentally captured.

Password Protection System

For the next generation, dedicated to decoding inner speech directly—which could offer greater speed and convenience—the team has developed a password protection system so that any inner speech can only be decoded if the user imagines a special, rare phrase. Future developments will enable the recording of a larger number of neurons, with fully wireless implanted systems that are more accurate, reliable, and user-friendly. Several companies are working on this aspect, and it is expected to be available within the next few years.

The researchers also plan to explore brain regions outside the motor cortex that may contain clearer information about imagined speech, such as areas associated with language or hearing, to improve decoding accuracy. It is worth noting that implanted brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) are not yet a widely available technology, are still in the early stages of research and testing, and are subject to regulation by federal agencies and other bodies to ensure adherence to the highest standards of medical ethics.