Implant may allow Paralyzed man to speak

I have to preface this article with a pet peeve of mine - article titles that promise WAY more than they give. The title of this article was paralyzed man speaks again using brain implant. In fact this article was the first baby steps in technology that in five years or so may allow paralyzed victims to speak. Now don't get me wrong, the patient in question had been paralyzed completely for some time - only able to communicate by movements of his eye lids. Researchers strongly suspected that the mans speech center was still functioning. They put their patient in an fMRI brain scanner and asked him to attempt to make vowel sounds. His brain showed the exact same patterns as an uninjured person making those sounds aloud. Researchers implanted a special kind of electrode in his brain, one that's "impregnated with neurotrophic factors" that encourage brain neurons to grow into and around the electrode. Essentially this electrode forms a very strong connection with brain neurons, which results in a strong signal that reliably comes from the same part of the patient's brain over time. Over a period of weeks, researchers worked to decode the signals coming from the man's brain. Eventually, he was able to produce three vowel sounds with good accuracy. The man produces these sounds as quickly as he would normal speech, and the long-term goal within five years is to have him use the speech brain–computer interface to produce words directly.

But as you can see, the man is NO where near speaking as of yet and may NEVER speak. The research is startling and cutting edge. That on its own merit makes it interesting. The title does no more than treat the science aficionado the same way head line news force feeds the brain dead.

Its a great article with links to Nature that are well worth reading. Just wish they would stop treating me like I am drooling into my scrambled eggs. oh and if you click the link you will see Nature does the same thing. Why do I bother....