April 09, 2006
Using Your Brain To Control Your Computer
According to a recent article in Wired "Now That's Using Your Brain," a study is underway at The Wadsworth Center in New York State to use brain waves to type and send email messages.
The goal of brain-wave typing is to open up a world of communication with caregivers and loved ones for people disabled by ALS, cerebral palsy or high-level spinal-cord injuries. With little or no muscle control, communicating clearly, or even at all is difficult, if not impossible.
Researchers in the brain-computer interface, or BCI, Group are enrolling patients in trials of a system that could enable them to send e-mail and communicate using their brain waves. They hope to have five to 10 people testing the interface by June.
How it works
A caregiver uses a laptop to start up the system. An electrode-laden skull cap tracks brain activity with an EEG and relays it to an amplifier. Brain waves are then translated into computer activity. The patient has an additional screen to use for communication.
Patients computers show them a matrix of images or letters that flash rapidly in a random sequence. When users focus on the letters or pictures they want to select, a spike occurs in the brain's electrical activity, and after several cycles with the same result, the system selects that letter or image. Communication is slow -- users create two to four words per minute.
Scientists also developed the sensory motor rhythm, or SMR, system, which allows users to concentrate on moving various body parts to manipulate a cursor on a screen.
A scientist with late-stage ALS is already using the system. He had previously used an eye-gaze system, in which a camera tracked his eye movements -- not a very satisfactory system for him. Now, he's using the BCI to send e-mail and do other tasks four to six hours a day.