Coming soon: A mind-reading machine!

An international team, led by Prof Bradley Greger of Utah University, has been able to translate brain signals into speech using sensors attached to the surface of the brain for the first time.

The experimental breakthrough, which is up to 90 percent accurate, offers a way to communicate for paralysed patients who cannot speak and could eventually lead to being able to read anyone thoughts.
The team achieved the experimental breakthrough when it attached two button sized grids of 16 tiny electrodes to the speech centres of the brain of an epileptic patient who had part of his skull removed for another operation to treat his condition.

Using the electrodes, the scientists recorded brain signals in a computer as the patient repeatedly read each of 10 words that might be useful to a paralysed person: yes, no, hot, cold, hungry, thirsty, hello, goodbye, more and less. Then they got him to repeat the words to the computer and it was able to match the brain signals for each word 76 percent to 90 percent of the time. The computer picked up the patient's brain waves as he talked and did not use any voice recognition software.

Because just thinking a word - and not saying it - is thought to produce the same brain signals, Prof Greger and his team believe that soon they will be able to have translation device and voice box that repeats the word you are thinking.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cwda7YWK0WQ