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Device That Turns Thoughts into Sounds Developed

by Rajshri on January 02, 2010 at 9:17 PM News on IT in Healthcare

Scientists are reporting that a man with locked-in syndrome has "spoken" three different vowel sounds using a voice synthesiser controlled by an implant deep in his brain. This device could revolutionize speech in paralyzed people.

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Scientists have said that if they could add more sounds to the repertoire of brain signals the implant can translate, such systems could be a scientific breakthrough in communication for such patients.

"We're very optimistic that the next patient will be able to say words," New Scientist quoted Frank Guenther, a neuroscientist at Boston University who led the study as saying.

Eric Ramsey, 26, has locked-in syndrome, in which people are unable to move a muscle but are fully conscious.

Guenther said that while a brain implant with invasive surgery could be drastic, but lifting signals directly from neurons may be the only way that locked-in people like Ramsey, or those with advanced forms of ALS, a neurodegenerative disease, will ever be able to communicate quickly and naturally.

Devices that use brain signals captured by scalp electrodes are slow, allowing typing on a keyboard at a rate of one to two words per minute.

"Our approach has the potential for providing something along the lines of conventional speech as opposed to very slow typing," said Guenther.

His team's breakthrough was to translate seemingly chaotic firing patterns of neurons into the acoustic "building blocks" that distinguish different vowel sounds.

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Device That Turns Thoughts into Sounds Developed

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