2023-08-25 14:30:00
Find the floor thanks to a mind reading device, it’s possible. Pat Bennett, a 68-year-old American diagnosed in 2012 with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS, or Charcot’s disease, a neurodegenerative disease that gradually affects the neurons of voluntary muscles), can communicate again. How ? Thanks to a computer brain interface technology developed by researchers at Stanford University, who published their work in the journal Nature on August 23, 2023 (source 1).
Four sensors were placed in areas of the brain related to speech. These transmit the brain signals to a device, which thanks to artificial intelligence, detects them to transform them into words. After 4 months of learning, the software was able to produce words on a screen at unprecedented speed 62 words per minute. It’s about three times slower than a normal conversation, but three times faster than previously developed technologies. The AI has a vocabulary of no less than 125,000 words, with a error rate of less than 25%.
“A lot of progress is being made at this level to have more sensitive electrodes and analysis software that makes it possible to better extract the cerebral signal”, specifies Dr Pierre François Pradat, neurologist at Pitié-Salpêtrière (Paris) and co-president of the scientific council of ARSLA (Association for research on ALS).
“The brain-machine interface is not something completely new. The old devices consisted of EEG (electroencephalogram) helmets, but they detected the signal poorly. It was therefore very long, it required a very important attention from the patients. Not everyone could therefore have access to it, ”explains Dr Pierre François Pradat.
Results welcomed by Dr. Francis Willett, neuroscientist at Stanford University and co-author of the study: “It is possible to imagine a future in which we can restore fluent conversation to a paralyzed person, allowing her to freely say what she means with enough precision to be reliably understood. »
Being able to speak, a major importance in patients with Charcot’s disease
This research changed the life of the 68-year-old American, who explained to the BBC that she could “perhaps continue to work, maintain friendly and family relations” (source 2).
” The loss of communication has an even greater impact than the loss of mobility in the quality of life, the psychological state of patients. It is their obsession. Many say that the day they will no longer be able to communicate, their life will no longer have meaning,” says Dr Pierre François Pradat.
This device, if it were to become available, would be added to existing communication systems for patients with advanced disease, explains Dr. Pradat:
- the communication board, made up of the letters of the alphabet in different colours;
- eye-tracking, with which the patient communicates through the eyes. “Unfortunately some patients do not succeed, and others may end up developing ocular paralysis”, regrets the neurologist.
Obviously, the device developed by researchers at Stanford University is still only at the experimental stage, far from being marketed on a large scale for patients suffering from Charcot’s disease or paralysis, in particular because its large size, its cost.
Another limit: “This is not a solution that will be possible for all patients. It takes strong commitment, strong motivation and cognitive abilities that allow it”, specifies the neurologist.
Every day about 5 people find out they have the disease, the life expectancy of which is usually only 3 to 5 years old au moment du diagnostic.
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