New Invention Lets You Speak Your Mind, Literally
In a nifty keynote address at last week's NIWeek conference in Austin, the co-founders of Illinois start-up Ambient Corporation showed off a radical new gadget that could significantly improve the lives of those afflicted with brain and spinal diseases.
Summed up, it turns thought into action.
Dubbed the "Audeo," the device is a lightweight black collar placed over a user's neck, directly above the vocal cords. Acting as an "electromyographic" sensor, it detects any neuromuscular electrical activity on the surface of the skin and converts it into something that a computer chip can understand.
“When you speak, your brain sends a signal to the muscles in your throat,” said Thomas Coleman, CTO of Ambient Corp. “We detect the electrical activity at the throat, convert it, and then use it for communication.”
Currently, the Audeo can translate this information into speech, as well as allow the operator to control a wheelchair. With sufficient development, other applications could likely follow.
The implications for such a device, if ultimately put into mass production, are pretty extraordinary. People afflicted with cerebral palsy, Lou Gehrig’s Disease, or who've suffered traumatic brain or spine injuries may be incapable of speaking out loud or performing physical actions, but the myriad nerve endings throughout their bodies are still active. The Audeo may make it easier for these folks to interact with the outside world.
At the presentation, the speakers invited one of the VPs of National Instruments to try out the Audeo. In the video playback (viewable online), there's several seconds of awkward silence as this guy tries to "think out" what he wants to say—moments later, the room erupts in applause when a tiny computerized voice successfully returns, "This is really neat stuff!"
Similar devices have been announced in the past, though none we've come across have been this non-invasive.
More:
Sensor-Based System Could Help Sufferers of ALS, Cerebral Palsy
Two inventors turn human thought into action
Photo from presentation
