In a new study, a team from Stanford University wanted to know whether neurons in the motor cortex also contain useful information about speech movements. Could you detect how you tried to move your mouth, tongue, and vocal cords?
These are small, subtle movements, and one of the big findings, says Sabes, is that just a few neurons have enough information to allow a computer program to predict exactly what the patient is going to say. that was included. That information was relayed by his team at Shenoy to computer screens, which displayed the patient’s words exactly as they were spoken.
The new results build on previous research by Edward Chan of the University of California, San Francisco. Speech, he wrote, contains the most complex movements humans make. We push the air out, add vibrations to make it audible, and put it into words with our mouth, lips, and tongue. To make the “f” sound, press your upper teeth against your lower lip to push air out. This is just one of dozens of mouth movements required to speak.
way forward
Chang had previously used electrodes placed above the brain to allow volunteers to speak through a computer.
“Our results point to a viable avenue for restoring communication to people with paralysis at speech speed,” wrote the researchers, including Shenoy and neurosurgeon Jamie Henderson.
David Moses, who works with Chang’s team at UCSF, says the current work has reached “impressive new performance benchmarks.” But even as records continue to be broken, “it will become increasingly important to show stable and reliable performance over multi-year timescales,” he says. Commercial brain implants can struggle to get through regulatory agencies, especially if they degrade over time or become less accurate in recording.
Willett, Kunz et al.
Future paths may include both more advanced implants and tighter integration with artificial intelligence.
