The potential applications of this device are very broad; especially in helping people with neurological conditions that impede their ability to communicate verbally.

Professor Gregory Kogan from Duke University, a key figure in the project, highlighted the current challenges faced by patients with movement disorders, noting the slow and cumbersome nature of current communication tools.

What can the new implant do?

Modern communication devices for such patients operate at a slow speed; This can be compared to listening to an audiobook at a slow playback speed – approximately. 78 words per minute. In contrast, the new telepathic implant promises to restore communication at an approximately normal speech rate. 150 words per minute.

The delay in decoding brain signals is due in part to the limited number of sensors that can connect to the thin layer surrounding the brain. To overcome this limitation, bioengineers who specialize in creating ultrathin and flexible, high-density brain sensors were recruited. The result was placement 256 microscopic sensors on a thin surface of medical plasticIt’s no bigger than a postage stamp.

What did the experiments show?

To test the effectiveness of the implant, four volunteers underwent surgery to implant the device on the surface of the brain. During the experiment, participants had to make a series of meaningless sounds, and the device recorded the activity of the motor part of the brain. This area coordinates the movement of the muscles responsible for speech.

The data collected during the experiment was processed using a machine learning algorithm, which made it possible to obtain the indicator v. 40% of overall recognition accuracy. Although the accuracy of recognizing different voices varies, researchers remain optimistic about the technology’s potential, especially given the scope of the study and the relatively short processing time of 90 seconds for a 15-minute test.

Inspired by the initial success, the research team received funding to further develop a wireless version of the telepathic implant, paving the way for future advances in neurointerfaces.