A paralyzed person first began to speak with the help of neurotechnology
For the first time, the paralyzed man was able to communicate with people using technology that decodes electrical impulses generated by the brain, writes The Washington Post .
According to scientists at the University of California, San Francisco, this is the first time that a patient has regained the ability to communicate through words and short sentences.
A 38-year-old man suffered a brain stem stroke 15 years ago. As a result, the neural connection between his brain and vocal cords was severed. The patient is paralyzed below the neck and communicates by pressing letters on the keyboard with a pointer attached to his baseball cap.
Now the man can make short sentences. The computer decodes the activity of his brain and displays sentences on the screen with an average accuracy of about 75% and at a speed of over 15 words per minute.
According to the head of the research group, Edward F. Chang, five years ago, such progress was not yet possible. He noted that every year thousands of people lose the ability to communicate through speech as a result of strokes, cerebral palsy and other diseases.
Recall that two years ago, a paralyzed Frenchman learned to walk again thanks to an exoskeleton.
