Brain implants help patients communicate by thinking

A patient with inability to walk and speak in the Netherlands can control new implants to communicate with thoughts without the supervision of a medical professional.

Hanneke de Bruijne, a paralyzed woman in the Netherlands, was the first to be fitted with a new brain implant to help patients communicate by thinking . The findings were published in the New England Journal of Medicine on November 12, according to Science Alert.

Patient Hanneke de Bruijne implanted device to help communicate by thinking.(Photo: University Medical Center Utrecht).

Bruijne was diagnosed with unilateral sclerosis (ALS) in 2008. After two years, from a healthy person, she now had to use a breathing machine and could not walk or talk. Bruijne communicates through the eye tracking system, helping her choose words and words on the screen to form sentences.

However, this is only a temporary measure. According to New Scientist, every three people with ALS will have one last person who cannot move even their eyes. So, Nick Ramsay, a researcher at Utrecht Medical University Hospital, Netherlands, wants to build a system that is not based on physical movement, which is a device for reading human minds.

He and his team built a device that patients can control at home, without the need for continuous monitoring of a medical professional. The device is surgically implanted into the brain with two electrodes placed on the motor cortex, which controls human movement.

These electrodes connect to a transmitter that is similar in size to a pacemaker and implanted on Bruijne's chest. The transmitter can connect wirelessly to the computer software displayed on the screen in front of it.

Bruijne will see a square move between the letters on the screen. When the square stopped at the letter she wanted, Bruijne had to imagine she was moving her right hand to press the letter. Although she did not really move her right hand, her brain still produced similar signals. This signal will be transmitted to the transmitter and the software on the computer.

After half a year of practice, Bruijne can use the system with 95% accuracy.

Figure illustrates the operation of the system.(Photo: University Medical Center Utrecht).

"Bruijne is progressing faster thanks to practice. At first, she took 50 seconds to choose a letter but now, she can do it in 20 seconds", according to New Scientist.

Bruijne said the new device helped her feel more confident when communicating with people around and in public places, especially in places where natural light caused trouble for eye-tracking devices.

"Now, I can communicate outdoors when the eye tracking device is not working. I feel more confident and independent when I go out," Bruijne said.

Ramsay's next goal is to help Bruijne use the device faster by attaching more electrodes. He suggested that a system with 30 or 60 electrodes could decode sign language or inner speech faster than the current system.