Researchers in Germany have successfully enabled a person with complete paralysis, who could not speak, to communicate through a brain implanted computer. The team at Wyss Center for Bio and Neuroengineering, in collaboration with the University of Tübingen in Germany, has showcased a collaboration between medicine and technology.
The study, which has been underway for more than two years, shows that communication is possible with people who are entirely locked in because of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), a progressive neurodegenerative disease in which patients lose the ability to move and talk.
The experiment published in the journal Nature Communications demonstrated that the patient modulated neural firing rates based on auditory feedback. He used this strategy to select letters one by one to form words and phrases to communicate his needs and experiences, India Today reported.
"This case study proves that brain-based volitional communication is possible even in a completely locked-in state," the paper stated.
The Process
The participant was a fully paralysed man in his 30s who had been diagnosed with a fast-progressing form of ALS. Researchers said that patients with ALS can lose all muscle-based communication routes as motor neuron degeneration progresses, and they may be left without any means of communication.
The team implanted 64 microelectrode arrays in the patient's supplementary and primary motor cortex, which picked up brain signals that the participant had learned to generate by attempting different movements. The model maps the signs to mean either 'yes' or 'no'. A speller program reads the alphabet letters aloud to reveal what the participant wants to communicate.
Using auditory neurofeedback, the participant can choose 'yes' or 'no' to confirm or reject the letter, ultimately forming whole words and sentences.
Jonas Zimmermann, PhD, Senior Neuroscientist at the Wyss Center in Geneva said, "Previously, successful communication has been demonstrated with BCIs in people with paralysis. But, to our knowledge, ours is the first study to achieve communication by an individual who has no remaining voluntary movement and hence for whom the BCI is now the only means of communication."
People With ALS Increasing Globally
The number of people worldwide with ALS is increasing and over 3,00,000 people are projected to be living with the disease by 2040, with many reaching a state where speech is no longer possible. The study showed that with the involvement of family or caregivers, the system can in principle be used at home.
The team is now working to improve the system that could be key for the CLIS ALS population and could help other people in future who have an impaired ability to communicate and move. Researchers in a release said they are working on ABILITY, a wireless implantable BCI device designed to connect to either microelectrode arrays or ECoG electrode grids flexibly. This will allow detecting and processing signals from either highly specific or larger brain areas.
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