Is Elon Musk's plan to 'embed a device in the brain to cure tinnitus' feasible?
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In a tweet in April 2022, Elon Musk said, 'A device embedded in the brain could cure tinnitus within five years.' Experts are testing whether tinnitus, which has plagued many people over the years, can really be treated.
Elon Musk claims his Neuralink brain chip could'cure' tinnitus in 5 years. But don't hold your breath
https://theconversation.com/elon-musk-claims-his-neuralink-brain-chip-could-cure-tinnitus-in-5years-but-dont-hold-your-breath-182156
◆ What is Mr. Musk's Neuralink?
The device of Neuralink , the developer of Brain Computer Interface (BCI) led by Mr. Musk, has a chip in his head with 1000 fibrous electrodes, which is only one-fourth the diameter of human hair, and is connected via Bluetooth. It communicates and operates artificial limbs.
In 2021, the company announced that it had successfully made a monkey named Pager play a table tennis game on a BCI device, and released a video showing that.
A video of a monkey with a chip embedded in his brain playing a game with only 'thinking' will be released --GIGAZINE
◆ Can Neuralink devices be applied to the treatment of tinnitus?
According to David Tuffrey, a cybersecurity professor at Griffith University in Australia, tinnitus is defined as 'a neurological symptom of hearing sound without external factors.' It is known that the vestibulocochlear nerve , which connects the inner ear and the brain, is damaged by loud noises and injuries caused by insufficient blood flow, but no cure has been established. Therefore, it seems that the treatment of tinnitus is centered on training how to ignore the sound and distracting by listening to the environmental sound.
When asked, 'Are you looking forward to tinnitus treatment?' In connection with the article that Neuralink devices can treat obesity, Musk said, 'It's definitely possible. It may be possible within five years. No. Neuralink's device is a semi-general-purpose nerve reading and writing device with about 1000 electrodes. With 1000 electrodes, tinnitus can be treated, and the number of electrodes is expected to increase by many orders of magnitude in the future. I answered.
Definitely. Might be less than 5 years away, as current version Neuralinks are semi-generalized neural read / write devices with ~ 1000 electrodes and tinnitus probably needs << 1000.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 24, 2022
Future gen Neuralinks will increase electrode count by many orders of magnitude.
It may seem a bit too grand to suddenly cure a symptom for which no cure has been established with state-of-the-art technology that implants a device in the brain, but experts say it's a crazy idea. I don't think.
Since the first cochlear implants were implanted in the heads of hearing-impaired people in the early 1960s, neuroimplantation technology has made many advances to help people. Therefore, many neurologists expect this technique to be effective in treating tinnitus. When asked to comment on the outlook for this technology, Paul Nuyujukian, who directs research on BCI technology at Stanford University, said, 'We are about to enter a complete paradigm shift. It has the potential to revolutionize our treatment techniques. It will be effective for all types of brain diseases, including stroke, paradigm, and neurodegenerative diseases. '
◆ Issues and future prospects
Experts are optimistic that BCI technology will eventually enable the treatment of brain disorders, including tinnitus, but there are still many challenges.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration, a medical technology regulator, has classified Neuralink devices as the highest-risk Class III medical devices and must meet strict regulations to conduct clinical trials in humans. not. This includes comprehensive collection of clinical trial data for non-human animals such as monkey pagers, but also from an animal protection perspective, such as some monkeys dying during the Neuralink experiment. Due to criticism, the hurdles for human experimentation are even higher.
As soon as concerns about unintended adverse effects such as depression, problems such as removal and repair in case of failure, and management of cerebral infarction and infectious disease risk are cleared, Neuralink will recruit human volunteers to start clinical trials. However, no one knows how long it will take to put it to practical use.
In this regard, Tuffrey said, 'Neuralink devices may take years to come to fruition and may be affordable to non-high net worth individuals, so cheap implant technology in the short term. It would be wise not to have false expectations, 'he said, suggesting that it will take time to realize treatments using devices that are implanted in the brain.
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