How cool would it be to type without the use of hands and keyboard? Just to let us experience the glee, Mayo Clinic neuroscientists have developed a way to type alphanumeric characters on a computer display using brain waves.
The possibilities of brain-machine interface have been exploited time and again. Brain waves are being tamed to help individuals with disorders of different kinds, and the achievements have been pretty brisk in the process. Fitted well in the slot was this Mayo Clinic’s brain wave writing demonstration at the 2009 annual meeting of the American Epilepsy Society, which could assist in developing assistive devices controlled by brain-computer interface.
The experiment of using brain waves to type was conducted on two patients with epilepsy. These patients were fitted with electrodes on the surface of the brain, in a technique called electrocorticography (ECoG), to find the area where seizures originated. The electrodes however were beneficial for the neuroscientists who with their software were able to display alphanumerical characters from the patients mind onto a monitor to near 100 percent accuracy.
In the study, the two patients sat in front of a monitor that was hooked to a computer running the researchers’ software, which was designed to interpret electrical signals coming from the electrodes. The patients were asked to look at the screen, which contained a 6-by-6 matrix with a single alphanumeric character inside each square. Every time the square with a certain letter flashed, and the patient focused on it, the computer recorded the brain’s response to the flashing letter. The patients were then asked to focus on specific letters, and the computer software recorded the information. The computer then calibrated the system with the individual patient’s specific brain wave, and when the patient then focused on a letter, the letter appeared on the screen.
