{"id":302998,"date":"2018-11-21T08:43:36","date_gmt":"2018-11-21T13:43:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.euvolution.com\/futurist-transhuman-news-blog\/uncategorized\/new-brain-implant-could-translate-paralyzed-peoples-thoughts-into-speech.php"},"modified":"2018-11-21T08:43:36","modified_gmt":"2018-11-21T13:43:36","slug":"new-brain-implant-could-translate-paralyzed-peoples-thoughts-into-speech","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.euvolution.com\/futurist-transhuman-news-blog\/futurism\/new-brain-implant-could-translate-paralyzed-peoples-thoughts-into-speech.php","title":{"rendered":"New Brain Implant Could Translate Paralyzed People\u2019s Thoughts Into Speech"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p><div><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"158\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-assets.futurism.com\/2018\/11\/brain-implant-read-paralyzed-minds-speak-bci-300x158.png\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" style=\"padding-left:10px; padding-right: 10px;\"><\/div><h2><strong>Plugging In<\/strong><\/h2><p>A new brain implant out of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.feinsteininstitute.org\/laboratory-for-multimodal-human-brain-mapping\/\">Feinstein Institute for Medical Research<\/a> in New York might someday be able to read people&rsquo;s thoughts and &mdash; for those who can&rsquo;t speak on their own &mdash; say them out loud.<\/p><p>The brain-computer interface (BCI) system sits on the surface of the brain &mdash; an array of electrodes detects the neural signals sent out by brain regions responsible for perceiving and generating speech, which are then decoded by a computer in the lab, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.statnews.com\/2018\/11\/15\/brain-computer-interface-translate-thoughts-speech\/\">reports <em>STAT News<\/em><\/a>.<\/p><h2><strong>Baby Steps<\/strong><\/h2><p>Current-generation BCI can&rsquo;t create a perfect brain signal-to-speech pathway; people using this new system wouldn&rsquo;t be able to generate eloquent speeches. But according to&nbsp;<em>STAT,<\/em>&nbsp;doctors believe they may be able to let people who are paralyzed or otherwise can&rsquo;t speak inform their caregivers that they are hungry, thirsty, in pain, or other things that are relatively simple but crucial to get across.<\/p><p>It could also &mdash; potentially &mdash; help doctors determine <a href=\"https:\/\/www.popsci.com\/new-test-could-tell-whether-comatose-patients-will-awake\">whether comatose people are awake<\/a> and responsive or asleep at any given time.<\/p><h2><strong>We Can&rsquo;t Rebuild Him<\/strong><\/h2><p>But <em>STAT<\/em> is quick to point out that medical brain-computer interfaces such as this one, which is being tested on volunteers who are <a href=\"https:\/\/futurism.com\/the-byte\/jets-pilots-mind-control-darpa\">already undergoing brain surgery<\/a> for severe epilepsy, are far from being available outside of a research lab.<\/p><p>Brain implants have a bitter history of <a href=\"https:\/\/futurism.com\/scientists-stick-needles-brains-curious-what-needles-brains\">damaging the brain<\/a> or being <a href=\"https:\/\/futurism.com\/neural-jelly-drill-brain\">rejected by the nervous system<\/a>, and because the devices don&rsquo;t last forever, multiple brain surgeries over the years would become necessary. But someday, if the questions of brain compatibility are resolved, it looks like the assistive powers of BCI implants will be ready and waiting.<\/p><p><strong>READ MORE: <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.statnews.com\/2018\/11\/15\/brain-computer-interface-translate-thoughts-speech\/\">With brain implants, scientists hope to translate paralyzed patients&rsquo; thoughts into speech<\/a> [<em>STAT News<\/em>]<\/p><p><strong><em>More on brain-computer interface technology: <a href=\"https:\/\/futurism.com\/the-byte\/human-brain-neural-network\">A Neural Network, Connected to a Human Brain, Could Mean More Advanced Prosthetics<\/a> <\/em><\/strong><\/p><p>The post <a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/futurism.com\/brain-implant-read-paralyzed-minds-speak-bci\/\">New Brain Implant Could Translate Paralyzed People&rsquo;s Thoughts Into Speech<\/a> appeared first on <a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/futurism.com\">Futurism<\/a>.<\/p><p>See more here:<br><a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/futurism.com\/brain-implant-read-paralyzed-minds-speak-bci\/\" title=\"New Brain Implant Could Translate Paralyzed People&rsquo;s Thoughts Into Speech\">New Brain Implant Could Translate Paralyzed People&rsquo;s Thoughts Into Speech<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p> Plugging In A new brain implant out of the Feinstein Institute for Medical Research in New York might someday be able to read people\u2019s thoughts and \u2014 for those who can\u2019t speak on their own \u2014 say them out loud.  <a href=\"https:\/\/www.euvolution.com\/futurist-transhuman-news-blog\/futurism\/new-brain-implant-could-translate-paralyzed-peoples-thoughts-into-speech.php\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"limit_modified_date":"","last_modified_date":"","_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-302998","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-futurism"],"modified_by":null,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.euvolution.com\/futurist-transhuman-news-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/302998"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.euvolution.com\/futurist-transhuman-news-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.euvolution.com\/futurist-transhuman-news-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.euvolution.com\/futurist-transhuman-news-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.euvolution.com\/futurist-transhuman-news-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=302998"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.euvolution.com\/futurist-transhuman-news-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/302998\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.euvolution.com\/futurist-transhuman-news-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=302998"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.euvolution.com\/futurist-transhuman-news-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=302998"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.euvolution.com\/futurist-transhuman-news-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=302998"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}