Unlocking Speech Through Brain Implant & Machine Learning

[gleem]

TL;DR

An experimental system connecting electrodes implanted in a brain can display words that a person thinks of saying.

In a collaboration of several institutions researchers have been able to record the thoughts of a person with a brain stem stroke resulting in anarthria (an inability to articulate speech) by mplanting network of electrodes in the brain and using a machine learning algorithm to decode the thoughts of words and display them on a computer screen.
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/14/...3473&user_id=799d953295eabb464706b7f2130bc45f

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[phinds]

I see the article as being behind a paywall

 

[gleem]

Here is a link to the original research paper https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa2027540

 

[berkeman]

I see the article as being behind a paywall

I'm able to access the NYT article in the OP link.

 

[256bits]

RESULTS​

We decoded sentences from the participant’s cortical activity in real time at a median rate of 15.2 words per minute, with a median word error rate of 25.6%. In post hoc analyses, we detected 98% of the attempts by the participant to produce individual words, and we classified words with 47.1% accuracy using cortical signals that were stable throughout the 81-week study period.That's about the state of my typing skills.