Brain implant helps woman with ALS communicate

Dutch experts placed implant into the brain of woman who is completely paralyzed. This device allows to communicate  with the world through the power of thought.

According to popmech.ru, Diagnosed in 2008, 58 years old De Bruijne was in a locked-in state of paralysis, apart from one method of communication: the ability to use eye movements and blinking to indicate "yes" or "no" answers distinguishable by standard eye-tracking technology.

Not all ALS patients retain even this capacity. But the study team specifically chose a patient who did in order to have some means of verifying accuracy of the brain-computer interface.

Nick Ramsay,  a professor of cognitive neuroscience at University Medical Center Utrecht in the Netherlands, when met with the patient for the first time, she could only communicate with a device that controls eye movement. It allows you to select letters on the screen and transform into word. However, ALS patients can lose this ability over time, so it was decided to insert device into the brain. Device reads brain activity and translates it into a signal by controlling, from  the computer directly.

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