Breakthrough brain implant allows paralysed man to ‘speak’ by transcribing his thoughts

An experimental brain implant that translates brain signals into words has been a success, say researchers in California.

It’s a major step towards the development of a technology that could help people communicate by thinking, potentially changing the lives of those who lose the ability to speak through injury or illness.

Scientists at the University of California, San Francisco, worked with a man in his 30s who suffered a paralysing stroke more than 15 years ago and lost the ability to speak, reports the Wall Street Journal. He agreed to have electrodes surgically attached to the outer surface of his brain to test the neuroprosthesis.