First there was the keyboard, then touch and voice to control computing devices and apps. Researchers at the Mortimer B. Zuckerman Mind Brain Behavior Institute at Columbia University in New York City announced "a scientific first" with their invention of a brain-computer interface (BCI) that translate human thought into speech with higher clarity and precision than existing solutions. The research team, led by Nima Mesgarani, Ph.D., published their findings on January 29, 2019 in Scientific Reports, a Nature research journal. A brain-computer interface is a bidirectional communication route between a brain and computer. Many BCI research projects are centered on neuroprosthetic uses for those who have lost or impaired movement, vision, hearing, or speech, such as those impacted by stroke, spinal cord injuries, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), aphasia (speech impairment due to brain damage), cochlear damage, and locked-in syndrome.

Scientists are getting closer and closer to being able to translate the thoughts of patients who have lost their speech into words. Technology has made leaps and bounds to bridge the rift that forms between mind and body when one (or both) are damaged by disease. Amputees can now be fit with futuristic mind-controlled body limbs; bionic eyes give sight to the sightless, cochlear implants allow the deaf to hear. Restoring speech, however, presents unique challenges and has mostly remained in the realm of science fiction and the (mostly) pseudoscience of telepathy. Ambitious scientists scattered across the world are on the brink of changing that with implants that act as'brain-computer interfaces' that may soon be able to broadcast the voices inside a speechless patients' heads.

BCIs measure brainwaves using sensors placed outside of the head. With careful training and calibration, these brainwaves can be used to understand the intention of the person they are recorded from. However, one of the challenges of using BCIs in everyday life is the variation in the BCI performance over time. This issue is particularly important for motor-restricted end-users, as they usually suffer from even higher fluctuations of their brain signals and resulting performance. One approach to tackle this issue is to use shared control approaches for BCI, which has so far been mostly based on predefined settings, providing a fixed level of assistance to the user.

People with a rare condition called complete locked-in syndrome may finally have a link to the outside world. By reading the brain activity of completely paralyzed people in a new way, researchers could tell whether the test subjects were thinking'yes' or'no' in response to a question. The results were published Tuesday in the journal PLOS Biology. Four people with complete locked-in syndrome used the new technology to report that they were happy. The findings indicate that these people actually can communicate, with help from the right technology.

Researchers have been using brain-computer interfaces to interact with patients suffering from locked-in syndrome for a few years now. But a new system from the Wyss Center for Bio and Neuroengineering in Switzerland may finally allow even the most immobile patients communicate with the outside world. There are degrees to locked-in syndrome. The lesser variety only allows those suffering from it to raise or lower their eyes and blink, they're fully paralyzed otherwise. Fully locked-in syndrome prohibits even that degree of movement.

LONDON – Scientists have developed a brain-computer interface that reads the brain's blood oxygen levels and enables communication by deciphering the thoughts of patients who are totally paralyzed and unable to talk. In a trial of the system in four patients with complete locked-in syndrome -- incapable of moving even their eyes to communicate -- it helped them use their thought waves to respond yes or no to spoken questions. People who are paralyzed except for up and down eye movements and blinking are classified as having locked-in syndrome. If all eye movements are lost, the condition is referred to as complete locked-in syndrome. Researchers leading this trial said the brain-computer interface (BCI), which is noninvasive, could transform the lives of such patients, allowing them to express feelings and opinion to their loved ones and carers.

The new brain-computer interface enables HB to select letters on a computer screen using her mind alone, spelling out words at a rate of one letter every 56 seconds, to share her thoughts. SAN DIEGO--A wireless device that decodes brain waves has enabled a woman paralyzed by locked-in syndrome to communicate from the comfort of her home, researchers announced this week at the annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience. The 59-year-old patient, who prefers to remain anonymous but goes by the initials HB, is "trapped" inside her own body, with full mental acuity but completely paralyzed by a disease that struck in 2008 and attacked the neurons that make her muscles move. Unable to breathe on her own, a tube in her neck pumps air into her lungs and she requires round-the-clock assistance from caretakers. Thanks to the latest advance in brain–computer interfaces, however, HB has at least regained some ability to communicate.