Research results show that ALS has made it possible for men whose whole body muscles do not move to communicate with 'machines embedded in the brain'

Communication can be achieved by implanting a 'device that reads brain signals' in a man who suffers from ' Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) ), which is also known as an intractable disease designated by the Ministry of Health and Welfare, and whose whole body muscles are stuck. It was reported that it became.

Spelling interface using intracortical signals in a completely locked-in patient enabled via auditory neurofeedback training | Nature Communications
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-022-28859-8

In a first, brain implant lets man with complete paralysis spell out thoughts:'I love my cool son.' | Science | AAAS
https://www.science.org/content/article/first-brain-implant-lets-man-complete-paralysis-spell-out-thoughts-i-love-my-cool-son

Brain-computer interface helps patient with locked-in syndrome communicate | Live Science
https://www.livescience.com/brain-computer-interface-als-communicate

Ujuwar Schoharry and colleagues from Tubingen, Eberhard Karls University , Germany, conducted an experiment to implant a device that reads a signal in the brain of an ALS patient. In 2018, Shaw Harry and colleagues obtained the consent of a 32-year-old man suffering from ALS and performed invasive implant surgery.

ALS is a disease of unknown cause in which primary and secondary motor neurons that control muscles degenerate and disappear, and it is also characterized by the rapid progression of death in 2 to 5 years without artificial respiration. Is said to be. In patients in the middle stage of progress, they can hear but cannot speak, so the method of 'move the cursor to the characters on the screen with the line-of-sight tracking camera' is mainly used for communication, and this experiment The man who participated in the event also expressed his intention to have implant surgery using this method, and it was his wife and sister who actually filled out the document.

The research team inserted two 3.2 mm vertical and horizontal electrode arrays in the area that controls the movement of the brain. We conducted an experiment to make yes / no correspond to the signal flowing through the electrode array when a man tried to move his hands, feet, head, eyes, etc., but because the signal flowing through the electrode array was inconsistent, 3 Failures continued for nearly a month. However, the research team realized that 'the pace of the signal flowing through the electrode array can be intentionally changed', and the research team 'reads the pace of the signal flowing through the electrode array and plays a sound with a pitch according to the pace'. By connecting, it is possible to express the intention in the form of 'If yes, a high pitch sound is played, if no, a low pitch sound is played'.

Men who continue to use this system will tell the caregiver 'I want you to move the position' by the method of 'repeating yes / no intentions for words and letters' after about 3 weeks. I was able to do it. Then, about a year later, select characters at a pace of one character per minute, ' Goulash soup and sweet pea soup,' 'I want to listen to the TOOL (American rock band) album at a loud volume,' and 'parentheses.' I have succeeded in creating the sentence 'I love my good son.'

TOOL --Schism --YouTube


However, there was a difficulty in accuracy, and it was 107 days (about 80%) out of 135 days that the pitch control required for yes / no discrimination was successful. Only 44 days (32%) were able to create meaningful sentences. I can only guess why the pitch control and the creation of meaningful sentences succeed and fail because it is difficult to communicate with the person, but the research team says, 'I was asleep? It's possible that he simply didn't like it, or that he failed to calibrate the signal-reading equipment that he had to do every day. '

According to Science, a major journalist who reported on this study, there are studies that read brain signals using non-invasive devices that do not require craniotomy, but 'to allow subjects to form sentences. There is no research that has reached the point of 'becoming'. It seems that the men who participated in this study are declining in their ability to form sentences, and most recently they have only expressed their intentions in the form of 'answering questions with yes / no'. The research team, Shoharry and colleagues, says they are seeking funding to continue future research with other ALS patients.