Paralyzed ALS Patient Operates Speech Computer with Her Mind
From: ECN - 11/14/2016

At University Medical Center (UMC) Utrecht, a brain implant has been placed
in a patient enabling her to operate a speech computer with her mind. The
researchers and the patient worked intensively to get the settings right. She
can now communicate at home with her family and caregivers via the implant.

Because she suffers from ALS disease, the patient is no longer able to move
and speak. Doctors placed electrodes in her brain, and the electrodes pick up
brain activity. This enables her to wirelessly control a speech computer that
she now uses at home.

The patient operates the speech computer by moving her fingers in her mind.
This changes the brain signal under the electrodes. That change is converted
into a mouse click. On a screen in front of her she can see the alphabet,
plus some additional functions such as deleting a letter or word and
selecting words based on the letters she has already spelled. The letters on
the screen light up one by one. She selects a letter by influencing the mouse
click at the right moment with her brain. That way she can compose words,
letter by letter, which are then spoken by the speech computer. This
technique is comparable to actuating a speech computer via a push-button
(with a muscle that can still function, for example, in the neck or hand). So
now, if a patient lacks muscle activity, a brain signal can be used instead.

Read the entire article at:
https://www.ecnmag.com/news/2016/11/paralyzed-als-patient-operates-speech-computer-her-mind
https://www.mdtmag.com/news/2016/11/paralyzed-als-patient-operates-speech-computer-her-mind
http://www.umcutrecht.nl/en/Research/News/Paralyzed-ALS-patient-operates-speech-computer-wit.aspx

Links:
Nick Ramsey
http://www.nick-ramsey.eu

First successful implant of the Utrecht NeuroProsthesis
http://www.nick-ramsey.eu/events/first-successful-implant-of-the-utrecht-neuroprosthesis

Utrecht NeuroProsthesis
http://neuroprosthesis.eu