The fact of being able to communicate with other people through thespeech It is the characteristic that differentiates us from the rest of theliving beings. In this way, Many researchers related toHealth have wanted to return the power of speaking to those who have lost it for different reasons.
One of thediseases common causes that can deprive some people of this characteristic is thecerebral palsy. Especially if it is at a high degree in which thebrain has lost the power to generate complete sentences.
In this case, let's talk about a newtechnology, which together with the use of a brain prosthesis has made it possible to write words and complete sentences from the brains of severely paralyzed people who cannot speak.
This has its mechanism of operation through the transcription of your brain signals sent to your mouth and throat to tryto talk.
This system, called ‘speech neuroprosthesis’, has been developed by researchers at the University of California, San Francisco (USA). And it comes after more than a decade of research.
How does the neuroprosthesis work?
The new technology marks the first time that thebrain of a paralyzed person who cannot speak. And turns into whole words.
Instead of systems based on writing letter by letter, as it happened in most current solutions, the new oneneuroprótesis uses brain signals. which are sent to control the muscles of thevocal tract that produce speech.
In this way, in cases where theparalysis stop people from talking, analysis of brain signals may allow them to speak. With a higher speed than systems based onwriting, what comes up to 150 o 200 words per minute produced when speaking.
The researchers first analyzed sensor data from patients withepilepsy that they could talk. And then they went to people withparalysisspeechless. Mapping the activity of thecerebral cortex associated with the movement of the muscles of the vocal tract that produce each vowel or consonant sound.
Posteriorly, isbrain signals were used to recognize whole words through a decoding method in real time. This is based on the decoding of these patterns and statistical language models to improve accuracy..
With the collaboration of a volunteer who suffers from paralysis since 15 The superfood that helps lower blood pressure and control glucose, researchers have succeeded in reconstructing a vocabulary of 50 words that could be recognized from the patient's brain signals.
The new technology is accurate to 93%
The measurement of brain signals could be performed with the surgical implantation of a set of high-density electrodes in the patient's motor cortex. The area ofbrain responsible for producing speech. With that, Attempts to pronounce the words were analyzed. 50 words.
The system used a screen totranscribe real-time user cues when answering questions such as: 'How are you today?’ and ‘Do you want water??’. Successfully transcribing responses: 'I'm fine' and 'No, I'm not thirsty', respectively.
The tests of the system have allowed to obtain a transcription ratio of up to18 words per minute. With a precision up to 93% in word recognition. Refined by the use of auto-correction systems similar to today's speech-to-text transcription technology.
"The system of 'neuroprótesis of speech’ shows great promise in restoring communication by harnessing the natural speech machinery of thebrain«, has assured the main author, University of California San Francisco neurosurgeon Edward Chang.