Think and type Written communication is critical in our digit | Tech for Good

Think and type

Written communication is critical in our digital world. Imagine the difficulties the patients affected by paralysis are facing in this regard. Blackrock Neurotech, a medical technology company from Salt Lake City, is trying to empower increased independence and quality of life for these people.

Their system allows patients to type text by merely imagining themselves writing or typing the words. The platform consists of an implant, miniaturized electronics, software, and a decoder. As a patient is thinking, electrodes implanted in the brain read the electrical firing patterns of neurons and send those signals through a bundle of five patented machine learning software decoders.

With this tech, patients with limited communication abilities can create text by thinking or imagining themselves typing or writing by hand. In terms of accuracy, Brackrock's system boasts 94% thought-to-text accuracy. That increases to 99% when the computer system autocorrects the text. The eventual goal is to enable communication functions on par with an able-bodied person.

As for the platform's future, the neuroscientists' team sees other benefits, including the restoration of treating or mitigating pain, hearing loss, depression, seizures, memory loss, possibly depression, and many others.

Article on Medgadget

#medtech #meddevice #implant #AI #wearables