For the first time in clinical practice, doctors have used a brain-computer interface to communicate with patients suffering from complete paralysis and get responses to simple “yes” or “no” questions, by detecting distinct patterns in patients’ brain activity.
Patients were asked a series of simple “yes” or “no” questions to establish that they were actively communicating. They were then asked more personal questions about their quality of life. Most of the subjects responded positively, challenging the stereotypes about mental satisfaction of locked-in patients. The researchers say the technology has great potential to transform medical care and quality of life for locked-in syndrome patients. Future advances in the sophistication of the interface would allow patients to participate more actively in communication. In addition to answering simple questions, researchers hope that they will be able to move on to more complex forms of interaction.
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