Digital avatar relays decoded brain signals to give voice to paralysed woman

The breakthrough marks the first time that speech or facial expressions have been synthesised from brain signals. The system can also decode these signals into text at nearly 80 words per minute, which improves on commercially available technology.  
 
Edward Chang, MD, chair of neurological surgery at UCSF hopes this latest research breakthrough, will lead to an FDA-approved system that enables speech from brain signals in the near future. The is detailed in Nature.
 
“Our goal is to restore a full, embodied way of communicating, which is really the most natural way for us to talk with others,” Chang said in a statement. “These advancements bring us much closer to making this a real solution for patients.”  
 
Chang’s team previously demonstrated it was possible to decode brain signals into text in a man who had also experienced a brainstem stroke. The current study demonstrates the decoding of brain signals into the richness of speech, along with the movements that animate a person’s face during conversation. 
 
Chang implanted a paper-thin rectangle of 253 electrodes onto the surface of the woman (Ann)’s brain over areas that are critical for speech. The electrodes intercepted the brain signals that, if not for the stroke, would have gone to muscles in her tongue, jaw and larynx, as well as her face. A cable plugged into a port fixed to her head connected the electrodes to a bank of computers.