A brain–computer interface developed by neurotechnology firm Paradromics contains electrodes that record from neurons in the cerebral cortex and then convert the information into intended speech patterns.Credit: Paradromics
Paradromics, a neurotechnology developer, announced today that the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved a first long-term clinical trial of its brain–computer interface (BCI). Early next year, the company — one of the closet rivals to Elon Musk’s neurotechnology firm Neuralink — will implant its device in two volunteers who were left unable to speak owing to neurological diseases. It has two goals: to ensure the device is safe; and to restore a person’s ability to communicate with real-time speech.
“We’re very excited about bringing this new hardware into a trial,” says Matt Angle, chief executive of Paradromics, which is based in Austin, Texas.
Paradromics’ BCI is a roughly 20 x 20 millimetre grid of thin, stiff, platinum-iridium electrodes that penetrate the surface of the cerebral cortex to record from individual neurons around 1.5 mm deep. This is then connected by wire to a power source and wireless transceiver implanted in an individual’s chest.
Initially, the two volunteers will each have one electrode array implanted in the area of the motor cortex that controls the lips, tongue and larynx, Angle says. Neural activity will then be recorded from this region as the study participants imagine speaking sentences that are presented to them. Following previous work by researchers who are now collaborating with Paradromics1, the system learns what patterns of neural activity correspond to each intended speech sound.
When participants imagine speaking these neural patterns will be converted into text on a screen for participants to approve, or into a real-time voice output based on old recordings of participants’ own voices.
This is the first BCI clinical trial to formally target synthetic-voice generation. “Arguably, the greatest quality of life change you can deliver right now with BCI is communication,” Angle says.
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The trial will also explore whether the system can reliably detect activity from imagined hand movements that would enable an individual to control a computer cursor. Depending on initial results, the trial could extend to ten volunteers with these participants receiving two cortical implants to increase signal richness and to access other brain areas, says Angle.
“I’m very curious. It’s an exciting step,” says Mariska Vansteensel, a BCI researcher at the University Medical Center Utrecht in the Netherlands. “For the field to move forward towards clinical applications, a fully implantable system is the only way to go.”
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