Brainwave that caps it all

UK Engineers have helped slash the cost of a brainwave reading computer system that enables severely paralysed people to communicate. The researchers, from Cambridge Consultants, gave their time and expertise free to develop the technology so it can be used in patients’ homes.

The initial brain-computer interface (BCI) had been developed by the Wadsworth Centre, a public health laboratory in New York.

It did away with the need for patients to undergo invasive surgery for implanting electrodes in the brain. Instead, it has external sensors to detect brainwaves which can be controlled even by people who have lost all muscular control.

But only a few could benefit from BCI because the equipment was awkward, expensive and limited. The cap containing the sensors became uncomfortable, the 64-channel amplifier for boosting the detected microvolt signals cost $13,000 (£7,500) and the user software offered few choices.

Since last September a team from Cambridge Consultants has been working to make the system cheaper and easier to use.