Speaking using the Power of Thought

Our newly-published article in the journal Neurosurgery, the official publication of the Congress of Neurological Surgeons, demonstrates the potential for speech by a silent person using the power of thought only.

The study was reported today in HaAretz, an Israeli main daily newspaper:

לפרוץ את מחסום הקול: חוקרים ישראלים הצליחו לתרגם מחשבה לדיבור

In brief:

A silent person imagined saying one of two phonemes. Our speech brain-computer interface (a.k.a speech neuroprosthesis or speech brain-machine interface), based on machine learning and deep learning AI algorithms, translated the activity of single neurons and high frequency activity in his brain, predicted which phoneme he imagined, and played its pre-recording accordingly.

Our study is a significant step towards developing a brain-computer interface that can replace the brain's lost speech control pathways in order to allow completely paralyzed individuals to communicate voluntarily with their surroundings once again.