Brain-computer implants restore some speaking ability to paralyzed patients

[Pat] Bennett has amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), a degenerative disease that has disabled the nerve cells controlling her vocal and facial muscles. As a result, her attempts to speak sound like a series of grunts.

But in a lab at Stanford University, an experimental brain-computer interface is able to transform Bennett’s thoughts into easily intelligible sentences, like, “I am thirsty,” and “bring my glasses here.”

The system is one of two described in the journal Nature that use a direct connection to the brain to restore speech to a person who has lost that ability. One of the systems even simulates the user’s own voice and offers a talking avatar on a computer screen.

Right now, the systems only work in the lab, and require wires that pass through the skull. But wireless, consumer-friendly versions are on the way, says Dr. Jaimie Henderson, a professor of neurosurgery at Stanford University whose lab created the system used by Bennett.

Even so, the system is still an imperfect solution for Bennett.

“She’s able to do a very good job with it over short stretches,” [Dr. Jaimie Henderson, a professor of neurosurgery at Stanford University ] says. “But eventually there are errors that creep in.”

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