Paralysed ALS patient used brain implant to request Tool album
nme.comTool album.Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) destroys the nerves that control movement. As the disease progresses, patients can use an eye-tracking camera to select letters on a screen and as the effects get more severe, they can answer yes-or-no questions with subtle eye movements.
After that, many are left in a “locked-in” state, unable to communicate.However, the patient in question began working with a research team at the University of Tübingen in 2018.
At the time, he could still move his eyes and told the team he wanted “an invasive implant to try to maintain communication with his family, including his young son,” according to Science.org.In a world-first, the implant has since allowed the “locked-in” patient to select letters to form sentences.
At first, the neural signals weren’t consistent enough to answer yes-or-no questions but after pivoting to neurofeedback, in which a person attempts to modify their brain signals while getting a real-time measure of whether they are succeeding, they saw some success.Whoa!
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