A brain implant successfully allowed a paralyzed man to spell out his thoughts. Thanks to the operation, the neural implant device acted as a new spelling system.
A picture of a human brain taken by a positron emission tomography scanner, also called PET scan, is seen on a screen on January 9, 2019, at the Regional and University Hospital Center of Brest (CRHU - Centre Hospitalier Régional et Universitaire de Brest), western France. - The CHRU of Brest has just acquired a new molecular imaging device.
Right now, paralysis still prevents many people to do the things they usually do. The so-called ALS (Neurological Disease Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis) can lead to extreme isolation.
This means that paralyzed individuals are unable to control their muscles, preventing them from communicating with other people.
But, various health agencies and brain experts have been making huge efforts to create implant devices that will further help paralyzed individuals.
How Brain Implant Acts as New Spelling System
According to ScienceOrg's latest report, a new brain implant allowed a man to select letters and form sentences by reading his brain signals.
A Simulation Of Surgical Implantation Of The Light Emitting Diodes Probe At The Children's Hospital Of Wisconsin, Medical College Of Wisconsin, Milwaukee. The Led Probe Is Approximately 9 Inches Long And Is About One-Half Inch In Diameter. The Led Light Source Consists Of 144 Tiny Pinhead-Size Diodes That Are Three Times Brighter Than The Sun. The Probe Was Developed For
The results were revealed by a new study titled "Spelling interface using intracortical signals in a completely locked-in patient enabled via auditory neurofeedback training," which was published by the Nature Communications journal.
Mariska Vansteensel, a brain-computer interface expert at the University Medical Center Utrecht, believed that allowing a paralyzed man to spell out his thoughts is impossible.
But, the new brain implant experiment showed that the new spelling system is quite reliable for all individuals who suffer from complete paralysis.
Brain Implant To Help Thousands of Paralyzed Individuals
Since the new brain implant was proven effective, Reinhold Scherer, a neural engineer at the University of Essex, said that it can allow thousands of paralyzed individuals to communicate with their friends and families once again.
However, conducting a brain implant surgery still comes with ethical challenges, especially if it is similar to the new study.
Of course, before the new brain implant experiment was conducted, they asked the man for consent. The 36-year-old ALS patient agreed, saying that he want an invasive implant that can allow him to communicate even when paralyzed.
In 2020, a wireless brain chip was rumored to have the ability to stimulate the human brain with electric current.
On the other hand, a new brain device that can treat pandemic fatigue was revealed last year.
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Written by: Griffin Davis
