Mic drop!!!
This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science.
Imagine you couldn’t speak. That’s life for people with ALS and dysarthria – disorders that impair muscular control and speech.
Now, enter brain computer interfaces or BCIs. They bypass damaged brain areas and decode neural activity to restore speech.
Maitreyee Wairagkar and team at UC Davis tested a BCI on a mute patient.
They implanted electrodes in his brain. As he tried to speak, they recorded his brain signals. Machine learning models then generated specific syllables.
Results? Using a speaker, he was able to talk with an artificial voice. Not only that – he also sang tunes!
This is the first brain implant to decode both speech and melody! Music to our ears!
Reference: Wairagkar, M., Card, N. S., Singer-Clark, T., Hou, X., Iacobacci, C., Miller, L. M., Hochberg, L. R., Brandman, D. M., & Stavisky, S. D. (2025). An instantaneous voice-synthesis neuroprosthesis. Nature, 10.1038/s41586-025-09127-3. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-025-09127-3