Technology 'read' sound in the brain

Scientists say advances in neuroscience have shown the ability to penetrate secrets in our brains. Interpretation of thought by reproducing sound, based on electric waves emitted from the brain to see what we are thinking in our heads, is possible, PLoS Biology reports.

Each sound the patient hears has a corresponding emitting voltage or set of emitted voltages. Based on that, experts use computers to record and reproduce the current sound in their heads.

In recent years, scientists have studied a number of methods to exploit human thinking. They found a way to implant electrodes directly into a part of the participant's brain. This method can make patients comatose, stop exchanging information, help brain programming.

In 2011, a study linked human brains to electronic devices such as computers, capable of "reading" electrical waves in the brain to guess people's thoughts. Participants can simply move the cursor on the screen by sound thought.

Jack Gallant, an expert at the University of California, Berkeley, said magnetic resonance imaging technology functions to monitor blood flow in the brain, to record and decode words and ideas that appear in someone's brain. .

Currently, Dr. Pasley and research team at the University of California, Berkeley are taking the next step "stimulating regeneration" . However, they still expressed concern "How can we get the electromagnetic broadcast system emitted from the brain by the same approach".

They focused on studying the area of ​​the temporal lobe cortex - responsible for analyzing and recognizing the sounds we hear.

The team monitored brainwave waves of 15 patients, who underwent surgery for brain tumors or epilepsy while they listened to others say. As a result, they obtained sound signals from the auditory center in the patient's temporal lobe cortex.

To do that, the team linked sounds and images from the brain to the computer to decode the resonant frequency of the brain region. With these devices, they can guess the thoughts of participants before they interpret it with words. In addition, experts can recreate words, sentences they get into sounds if the computer "reads" meaningful words.

Professor Knight says that people with hearing center disorders in the cortex can still interpret what they want to say by imagination, with the help of technology equipment.

"Patients provide sound signals. It's great if the information is sent back to their auditory cortex (not through the ear), for communication purposes , " he added.

Scientists believe that these research ideas need to be improved a lot before being applied in life.

Mindy McCumber, a Florida speech therapist, Orlando, said the research ideas need to be improved a lot before they can be applied to life. However, she sees the potential impacts on recovery of a patient's communication due to a series of disorders.

"The development of a direct brain tracking device is a revolution in communication. This can improve the quality of life difficult for people with sound disorders or impaired communication skills." she told BBC News .