Breakthrough brain-to-voice tech brings natural speech within reach for paralyzed patients

Forward-looking: Researchers from the University of California, Berkeley, and the University of California, San Francisco, have developed a brain-computer interface system capable of restoring naturalistic speech to individuals with severe paralysis. The innovation, which addresses a long-standing challenge in speech neuroprostheses, was detailed in a study published in Nature Neuroscience and represents a significant leap forward in enabling real-time communication for those who have lost the ability to speak. The research team overcame the issue of latency – the delay between a person's intent to speak and the production of sound – by leveraging advances in artificial intelligence. Their streaming system decodes neural signals into audible speech in near-real time. "Our streaming approach brings the same rapid speech decoding capacity of devices like Alexa and Siri to neuroprostheses," explained Gopala Anumanchipalli, co-principal investigator and assistant professor at UC Berkeley ... Read full article.