An experimental brain-computer interface has allowed a man with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) who was unable to speak or move to communicate.
Using a commercially available implant and newly designed software, the patient, who spoke German and was in the advanced stages of ALS and couldn’t move his eyes, was able to interact with researchers and caregivers. Initially he was able to correctly spell his name.
Ultimately, he was able to form complete sentences:
“wili ch tool balbum mal laut hoerenzn”(“I would like to listen to the album by Tool loud.”)
“wegen essen da wird ich erst mal des curry mit kartoffeln haben und dann bologna und dann gefuellte und dann kartoffeln suppe” (“for food I want to have curry with potato then Bolognese and potato soup.”)
“(son’s name) ich liebe meinen coolen (son’s name)” (“I love my cool son.”)