Transferring Thought to Speech

Kelsy Brown

Staff Writer

Recently, scientists have developed a brain implant which translates one’s own thoughts into speech in real time. Due to this new invention, a woman who had suffered a stroke more than two decades ago, which had left her unable to speak, has been able to repossess the ability to communicate through speech.

According to Science Alert, the new brain-computer interface processes “by analyzing her brain activity in 80-millisecond increments and translating it into a synthesized version of her voice.” This new development occurred in California, when a team of scientists and researchers recorded the woman’s brain activity while she had spoken silently in her head.

The team had built what her voice had sounded like before her stroke to create a speech sound that had sounded like her own voice to communicate the thoughts that were decoded by artificial intelligence.

The new methods of communication is an immense growth in the field of science, as it can “interpret on the fly [which] allow[s] the participant’s speech to flow in a far more natural manner that was 8 times faster than other methods,” according to Science Alert.

With the elimination of a speech delay, as seen with previous models of other brain-computer interfaces, there is less of a chance of miscommunication and frustration when communicating. The implant of the brain-computer interface is within the speech center of the brain—Broca’s area—as the signals are then translated into pieces of speech.