This Implant Can Turn Brain Activity Into Synthetic Speech

One of the problems experienced by those who are disabled is being able to effectively communicate with other people around them. For example, we have seen how this can involve the use of computers and having to type out things that they want to say. Now thanks to the efforts of researchers at UC San Francisco, they might have come up with something better.

The researchers have created an implant, which when worn by the patient, will allow their brain activity to be converted into synthetic speech by a computer. This means that these patients will be able to think of what they want to say, and it will be spoken out.

According to one of the researchers, Edward Chang, who is the professor of neurological surgery, “For the first time, this study demonstrates that we can generate entire spoken sentences based on an individual’s brain activity. This is an exhilarating proof of principle that with technology that is already within reach, we should be able to build a device that is clinically viable in patients with speech loss.”

At the moment the system is far from perfect as it can sometimes end up with garbled sounds, but it is a work in progress. The researchers are hoping that their system will help to restore the voices of patients who have ALS or Parkinson’s where speech loss tends to be irreversible.

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