Can a Brain-Computer Interface Convert Your Thoughts to Text?
From: ECN - 11/01/2016

Ever wonder what it would be like if a device could decode your thoughts into
actual speech or written words? While this might enhance the capabilities of
already existing speech interfaces with devices, it could be a potential
game-changer for those with speech pathologies, and even more so for
"locked-in" patients who lack any speech or motor function.

This study presents the Brain-to-text system in which epilepsy patients who
already had electrode grids implanted for treatment of their condition
participated. They read out texts presented on a screen in front of them
while their brain activity was recorded. This formed the basis of a database
of patterns of neural signals that could now be matched to speech elements or
"phones."

When the researchers also included language and dictionary models in their
algorithms, they were able to decode neural signals to text with a high
degree of accuracy. "For the first time, we could show that brain activity
can be decoded specifically enough to use ASR technology on brain signals,"
says Christian Herff, author of a review recently published in the journal
Frontiers in Human Neuroscience. "However, the current need for implanted
electrodes renders it far from usable in day-to-day life."

Read the entire article at:
https://www.ecnmag.com/news/2016/11/can-brain-computer-interface-convert-your-thoughts-text

Links:
Christian Herff
https://csl.anthropomatik.kit.edu/Team_145.php

Towards direct speech synthesis from ECoG: A pilot study
http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/abstract/document/7591004