Machine Becomes Voice Of Mentally Disabled

News Desk

Islamabad: Scientists have developed a computerised device that can read the brain waves of a paralysed person and translate them into more words than ever before.

Earlier in 2021, University of California researchers tested a ‘neuroprosthetic device’ on a paralysed person who was unable to speak, understand or read.

Experts said that the ‘neuroprosthetic device’ was able to translate 26 words of the paralysed person but one difficulty is that if a person utters the word “cat” in English, the computer will instead say “Charlie Alpha Tango”.

However, now that American experts have further improved this technology, they claim that the said device can translate more words per minute than before and will work at a faster speed than before, according to the news agency – Agence France Presse (AFP)

The device was tested by the University of California researchers on Pat Bennett, a 68-year-old woman with motor neurone disease. When this technology was attached to her mind during the experiment, the device translated the words that came to her mind.

In March of last year, Stanford University scientists implanted four small pieces of silicon with 64 small electrodes in Pat Bennett’s brain, the journal Nature reported.

These electrodes are very small and are used in the field of neuroscience to study the brain. Implanted just 1.5mm into the outer layer of the brain, the gray matter, these electrodes record the electrical signals generated by the parts of the brain that help us speak.

When Bennett tries to speak words with her tongue, an algorithm decodes the information coming out of her brain. “The system is trained to know which words should come before other words,” said Journal Co-author Dr Frank Willett.

“I tested Pat’s brainwave-to-words software for 4 months,” Willett added. The software used the woman’s brain waves to translate 62 words per minute on the screen, nearly three times faster than previous technology.

Experts say that about 160 words are spoken per minute during a normal conversation but so far, no technology has been developed that can be used by paralysed people in their daily lives.

They acknowledged that there were errors in the words the technology converted through brainwaves, saying that one in 10 words was wrong.

However, they further stated that compared to the previous technology, the errors of the mentioned technology have been reduced by 10 per cent.

There is a major advance towards faster communication recovery for people with strokes, stated Dr Frank.

University of California, San Francisco Neurological Surgery Chairman Edward Chang and his team tested another crippled patient. They used a device that had 253 electrodes embedded in the cortical material on the outer layer of the patient’s brain.

The results showed that the device translated 78 words per minute, five times faster than the Stanford team’s technology. Chang’s technology was unique because it not only connected to brain waves but also used the large sensorimotor cortex.

It should be noted that American experts have used artificial intelligence in the mentioned technology and this machine is connected to the human brain system.

This machine captures or reads the thoughts or words that come to the mind of the crippled person when the person is thinking of saying those words.

The machine reads the words or thoughts, converts them into words with the help of artificial intelligence, and displays them on the screen or reads them out in the form of audio.