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Hello, communicators:
Since the pandemic, many companies are exploring new accessibility communication tools to help differently-abled stakeholders interact with their content.
The latest example comes in the form of a new, experimental device that turns thoughts into text and has helped a paralyzed man quickly construct sentences on a computer screen. The man was able to generate text with 95% accuracy just by imagining that he was handwriting the letters on paper.
Scientific American
The technology lets people with paralysis perform thought dictation at rates approaching the thumb speeds of texters
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When we move, sense or speak or do just about anything our brain generates a specific pattern of electrical activity. And for decades, scientists have been connecting those impulses to machines, not only to understand and treat brain diseases but also to help people with disabilities. Brain-computer interfaces, or BCIs, can restore movement in people with paralysis and may help treat neurological and psychiatric diseases.
The next frontier in BCIs may be things like the lowly text message; typing still poses maddeningly difficult challenges to bioengineers. A study published today in
Science Photo Library/Pasieka / Getty Images
An experimental device that turns thoughts into text has allowed a man who was left paralyzed by an accident to swiftly construct sentences on a computer screen.
The man was able to type with 95% accuracy just by imagining that he was handwriting letters on a sheet of paper, a team reported Wednesday in the journal
Nature. What we found, surprisingly, is that [he] can type at about 90 characters per minute, says Krishna Shenoy of Stanford University and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.
The device would be most useful to someone who could neither move nor speak, says Dr. Jaimie Henderson, a neurosurgeon at Stanford and co-director, with Shenoy, of the Stanford Neural Prosthetics Translational Lab.
An experimental device that turns thoughts into text has allowed a man who was left paralyzed by an accident to swiftly construct sentences on a computer
Nature.
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toggle caption Science Photo Library/Pasieka/Getty Images
A man who is paralyzed was able to type with 95% accuracy by imagining that he was handwriting letters on a sheet of paper, a team reported in the journal
Nature. Science Photo Library/Pasieka/Getty Images
An experimental device that turns thoughts into text has allowed a man who was left paralyzed by an accident to construct sentences swiftly on a computer screen.
The man was able to type with 95% accuracy just by imagining he was handwriting letters on a sheet of paper, a team reported Wednesday in the journal