Brain Neural Prosthesis Revolutionizes Speech Restoration for ALS Patients: A Key Breakthrough in BCI

Jun 30
2 min read

Updated: 7 days ago

An ALS patient in a wheelchair communicates via a BCI. Her words appear on a computer screen attached to her chair, as she interacts with a group of people in a modern, hopeful setting.

Today, we bring news of immense hope in the field of medical technology. Researchers at the University of California, Davis, have achieved an extraordinary breakthrough with a brain neural prosthesis that allows paralyzed patients to communicate through thought.

This system is a significant step towards what its creators describe as a "fully digital vocal tract." Unlike previous methods, such as the one used by Stephen Hawking, which relied on muscular movements to slowly type and generate synthesized voice, or prior BCI systems that generated text with high latency and predefined vocabulary, this new prosthesis directly translates brain signals into sounds—phonemes and words—almost instantaneously. This means there is no longer a limited dictionary; the patient can say anything, including interjections or even sing short melodies.

The system works with 256 microelectrodes implanted in the patient's brain, specifically in the ventral precentral gyrus, a key area for vocal tract muscle control. Neural signals are decoded by an artificial intelligence algorithm and then processed by a vocoder that synthesizes speech, sounding like the voice that patient T15—a 46-year-old man with ALS, who collaborated in the study—had before his severe paralysis. The latency is only 10 milliseconds, achieving virtually real-time conversation. An astonishing fact is that patient T15 was able to learn to use the system in just 30 minutes.

While in controlled phrase selection tests, intelligibility was a perfect 100%, in open conversations, the error rate was 43.75%, which is a significant improvement compared to the 96.43% error in T15's unassisted speech. The researchers point out that, although it is a promising proof of concept, it is not yet ready for daily use. However, they are confident that systems with thousands of electrodes, such as those being developed by companies like Paradromics—which is already seeking FDA approval for a 1,600-electrode system—will bring this assistive technology to a level of full functionality. Other notable companies in the brain-computer interface (BCI) space include Neuralink, Precision Neuroscience, and Blackrock Neurotech, each with their own innovations.

This work, published in the prestigious journal Nature, opens a future full of possibilities for millions of people with speech and motor disabilities, allowing them a richer and more fluid connection with the world.

News that undoubtedly redefines what is possible in rehabilitation and assisted communication.