The locked-in syndrome can become a real nightmare for those who suffer from it. Those affected by this ailment, which affects the brain stem, have most of their muscles paralyzed, so that they cannot move or speak . In some cases, they can’t even move their eyes. However, they remain conscious and can reason perfectly. Some experts also refer to this condition as pseudocoma or captivity syndrome.
Now, a team of researchers from different institutions coordinated by Ujwal Chaudhary and Niels Birbaumer, from the Institute of Medical Psychology and Behavioral Neurobiology of the University of Tübingen, in Germany, and the Wyss Center for Bio and Neuroengineering, in Switzerland, has developed a new brain-computer interface that translates what they think . In this way, they can answer yes or no to the questions that are asked out loud.
As these neuroscientists explain in an article published in the journal PLOS Biology , the device, which does not need to be implanted, measures changes in blood oxygen levels in the brain . To do this, it uses a combination of electroencephalography and near-infrared spectroscopy . “We have tested them on four people, and in all cases we have observed that they answered the personal questions we have asked them – the level of success is around 70% – . If we achieve the same success with more affected people, I think we could achieve that these patients communicate effectively, “says Birbaumer.
This researcher also highlights that at first he and his collaborators were surprised by the responses of the patients. For several weeks they were asked, among other things, if they were happy, to which most of the time they answered yes. In one case, relatives asked one of them if he would allow his daughter to marry her boyfriend. They asked him the matter ten times, and his answer was the same nine times: “no.”
Birbaumer and his colleagues believe that their interface could have a huge impact on the daily lives of these people and explain that restoring the ability to communicate is a fundamental step in trying to tackle even more complex issues, such as recovering movement .
Image: Wyss Center.
