Paralysed man communicates first words in months using brain implant: ‘I want a beer’

7thKeeper · Mar 25, 2022

A completely paralysed man, who was left unable to communicate for months after losing the ability to even move his eyes, has used a brain implant to ask his caregivers for a beer. Composing sentences at a rate of just one character per minute, the man also asked to listen to the band Tool “loud”, requested a head massage from his mother, and ordered a curry – all through the power of thought.

The whole process of setting things up so he could communicate has taken a few years now (he was paralyzed in 2019). It's good to see and hear of these things, helping patients in states like him communicate about their wants and needs for care. I won't go listing them, he's made other requests besides the beer one, but this one was touching.

He was also able to interact with his 4-year-old son and wife, generating the message: “I love my cool son.”

Edit: I removed a double posting of the same paragraph from the first quote.

Nithavela · Mar 25, 2022

The most fascinating thing for me is that every single letter of his statements takes 1 minute for him to write. So a message like "I love my cool son.” takes 14 minutes.

This might seem like a very slow way to communicate, but it's certainly far better than no communication at all. Who knows how much communication will be possible a few years from now?

7thKeeper · Mar 25, 2022

Nithavela said:
The most fascinating thing for me is that every single letter of his statements takes 1 minute for him to write. So a message like "I love my cool son.” takes 14 minutes.

This might seem like a very slow way to communicate, but it's certainly far better than no communication at all. Who knows how much communication will be possible a few years from now?

Yeah, pretty sure the next step is to try to improve the speed with which he can write.

Nithavela · Mar 25, 2022

7thKeeper said:
Yeah, pretty sure the next step is to try to improve the speed with which he can write.

Hard to tell how much that can be improved without an entire new set of implants. And every brain implant is obviously a huge risk.

They'll probably try to recreate this success with other patients next.

Mark Quayle · Mar 25, 2022

Nithavela said:
The most fascinating thing for me is that every single letter of his statements takes 1 minute for him to write. So a message like "I love my cool son.” takes 14 minutes.

This might seem like a very slow way to communicate, but it's certainly far better than no communication at all. Who knows how much communication will be possible a few years from now?

I didn't register to read the rest of the article. Did it say how / why it takes a minute per character? I'm imagining how frustrating it would be if the programming involved does a 'spell correct' like my phone keeps doing.

Nithavela · Mar 25, 2022

Mark Quayle said:
I didn't register to read the rest of the article. Did it say how / why it takes a minute per character? I'm imagining how frustrating it would be if the programming involved does a 'spell correct' like my phone keeps doing.

I read this story on another site.

Basically, he controls the amplitude of a sound with his thoughts and sensor and computer pick up those waves and tries to match it to a letter. When the program gets the letter correct, the patient "thinks" an affirmation and the letter is then locked in.

I guess that when time moves on, some shorthand codes will be developed for more efficient communication.

trunks2k · Mar 25, 2022

ThatRobGuy · Mar 25, 2022

It's definitely an awesome technological advancement...hopefully it progresses even further in the coming decade.

...and can't blame him for wanting a beer

Paralysed man communicates first words in months using brain implant: ‘I want a beer’

7thKeeper

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Nithavela

you're in charge you can do it just get louis

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7thKeeper

Venture life, Burn your Dread

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Nithavela

you're in charge you can do it just get louis

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Mark Quayle

Monergist; and by reputation, Reformed Calvinist

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Nithavela

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trunks2k

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ThatRobGuy

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Paralysed man communicates first words in months using brain implant: ‘I want a beer’

Venture life, Burn your Dread

you're in charge you can do it just get louis

Venture life, Burn your Dread

you're in charge you can do it just get louis

Monergist; and by reputation, Reformed Calvinist

you're in charge you can do it just get louis

Contributor

Part of the IT crowd

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