Scientists have invented ways to ”read“ words directly from brains. Brain implants(植入物)can translate internal speech into external signals, permitting communication from people with diseases that steal their ability to talk or type. New results from studies provide additional evidence of the extraordinary potential that brain implants have for restoring lost communication.
Some people who need help communicating can currently use devices that require small movements, such as eye gaze changes. Those tasks aren’t possible for everyone. So the new studies targeted internal speech, which requires a person to do nothing more than think. ”Our device predicts internal speech directly, allowing the patient to just focus on saying a word inside their head and transform it into text,“ says neuroscientist Sarah Wandelt. ”Internal speech could be simpler than requiring the patient to spell out words or mouth them.“
Neural(神经系统的)signals associated with words are detected by electrodes(电极)implanted in the brain. The signals can then be translated into text, which can be made audible(听得见的)by computer programs that generate speech. Electrodes picked up nerve cell signals in the posterior parietal cortex, a brain area involved in speech and hand movements. A brain implant there might eventually be used to control devices that can perform tasks usually done by a hand too, Wandelt says.
The system allowed Pancho, who hadn’t been able to speak for more than 15 years after a car accident, to produce around seven words per minute. That’s faster than the roughly five words per minute his current communication device can make, but much slower than normal speech, typically about 150 words a minute.
To be useful, the current techniques will need to get faster and more accurate. “ These are still early days for the technologies, ” Wandelt says. “Progress will be possible only with the help of people who volunteer for the studies. The field will continue to benefit from the incredible people who participate in clinical trials.”
【小题1】What function is expected of the brain implants?| A．To control body movements. | B．To detect certain brain diseases. |
| C．To assist communication. | D．To translate foreign languages. |
| A．Its working principle. | B．Its technical limitation. |
| C．Its clinical significance. | D．Its potential application. |
| A．It has got as fast as normal speech. |
| B．It has not been put in clinical trials. |
| C．It is more accurate than current techniques. |
| D．It is not of much practical use at present. |
| A．To describe a trial. | B．To introduce a device. |
| C．To advertise a product. | D．To explain a concept. |
