A neurotechnology company has announced it achieved real-time speech and text communication with its Connexus brain-computer interface (BCI) implanted device.
In a Sept. 14 announcement, Paradromics, based in Austin, Texas, said the successful communication “was achieved as part of the Connect-One Early Feasibility Study, conducted under an FDA-approved Investigational Device Exemption. Moving beyond researcher-selected copy tasks, the participant chose her own words, answered open-ended questions, and communicated with her grandchildren during a live phone call.”
The demonstration “establishes a real-time communication loop in which neural activity associated with speech is decoded into language and returned to the participant as text and synthesized speech,” Paradromics added.
The study participant, described as a Michigan woman in her 60s, has been diagnosed with “a progressive motor neuron disease that has significantly affected her ability to speak.” While she remains capable of some limited speech that her husband often can understand, “communicating with others has become far more challenging” due to severe dysarthria, defined by the Mayo Clinic as weakness or lack of control of the muscles required to speak.
Paradromics reported that the woman’s first words were “OK, I have a lot to say.”
Preserving speech for clients with neurological conditions
“The sentence was generated by the participant and decoded in real time exactly as she intended, with no errors,” the company added.
Paradromics envisions the system could support patients diagnosed with conditions including amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and primary lateral sclerosis.
The Connexus BCI records neural activity “at the resolution of individual neurons” and then transmits the information wirelessly through intact skin to the external computing system. “Paradromics researchers are examining how neural activity changes as the participant listens to language, prepares to speak, attempts speech, and generates language internally,” the company said. “The data collected to date show that speech-related information can be identified across hundreds of neural recording channels and represented as distinct patterns that change depending on the task being performed.”
“When we implanted Connexus in June, we crossed the threshold into long-term human use,” said Matt Angle, Ph.D., founder and CEO of Paradromics. “We have now crossed another: Our first participant is choosing her own words and using neural activity to communicate them in real time. She determines what she wants to say, and the system enables her to say it.”
Matthew Willsey, M.D., Ph.D., a University of Michigan Health neurosurgeon and Connect-One investigator, asked the participant what she would say to others considering BCI surgery. “Don’t be afraid,” she answered, using the Connexus system. “It’s a wonderful experience to be able to help others by your participation in the research study.”
