Brain-Computer Interface Advance Allows Fast, Accurate Typing by People with Paralysis From: Wireless Design Magazine - 02/22/2017 A clinical research publication led by Stanford University investigators has demonstrated that a brain-to-computer hookup can enable people with paralysis to type via direct brain control at the highest speeds and accuracy levels reported to date. The report involved three study participants with severe limb weakness - two from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also called Lou Gehrig's disease, and one from a spinal cord injury. They each had one or two baby-aspirin-sized electrode arrays placed in their brains to record signals from the motor cortex, a region controlling muscle movement. These signals were transmitted to a computer via a cable and translated by algorithms into point-and-click commands guiding a cursor to characters on an onscreen keyboard. Each participant, after minimal training, mastered the technique sufficiently to outperform the results of any previous test of brain-computer interfaces, or BCIs, for enhancing communication by people with similarly impaired movement. Notably, the study participants achieved these typing rates without the use of automatic word-completion assistance common in electronic keyboarding applications nowadays, which likely would have boosted their performance. One participant, Dennis Degray of Menlo Park, CA, was able to type 39 correct characters per minute, equivalent to about eight words per minute. Read the entire article at: https://www.wirelessdesignmag.com/news/2017/02/brain-computer-interface-advance-allows-fast-accurate-typing-people-paralysis https://www.mdtmag.com/news/2017/02/brain-computer-interface-advance-allows-fast-accurate-typing-people-paralysis Brain-Computer Interface Advance Allows Fast, Accurate Typing by People with Paralysis (with video 3:04) http://med.stanford.edu/news/all-news/2017/02/brain-computer-interface-allows-fast-accurate-typing-by-people-with-paralysis.html Links: High performance communication by people with paralysis using an intracortical brain-computer interface https://elifesciences.org/content/6/e18554 BrainGate Assistive Communication http://www.braingate.org/research-areas/assistive-communication Braingate Collaboration Makes Advance in Interface’s Speed, Accuracy https://www.mdtmag.com/news/2017/02/braingate-collaboration-makes-advance-interfaces-speed-accuracy Paralyzed Man Uses Brain Implant to Type Eight Words Per Minute http://spectrum.ieee.org/the-human-os/biomedical/bionics/new-record-for-typing-by-brain-paralyzed-man-uses-brain-implant-to-type-8-words-per-minute Related: Brain-Computer Interface Enables Paralyzed Man to Walk https://www.mdtmag.com/news/2015/09/brain-computer-interface-enables-paralyzed-man-walk UCI Brain-Computer Interface Enables Paralyzed Man To Walk https://www.ecnmag.com/news/2015/09/uci-brain-computer-interface-enables-paralyzed-man-walk Braingate Collaboration Makes Advance in Interface’s Speed, Accuracy https://www.mdtmag.com/news/2017/02/braingate-collaboration-makes-advance-interfaces-speed-accuracy Brain-Sensing Technology Developed by Stanford Scientists Allows Typing at 12 Words Per Minute https://www.ecnmag.com/news/2016/09/brain-sensing-technology-developed-stanford-scientists-allows-typing-12-words-minute Typing Via Brain-Computer Interface a Possibility, Per Report http://www.rehabpub.com/2017/02/typing-via-brain-computer-interface-possibility-per-report Highest-Accuracy, Brain-Controlled Typing for People with Paralysis (with video 3:04) http://www.techbriefs.tv/video/Stanford-researchers-develop-br