The possibility of someone recovering speech without moving a single muscle sounds almost like science fiction, and yet the FDA has just opened the door for this to be tested in humans for the first time. It is a brain chip that promises to be able to give voice back to paralyzed people. This is an advance that places
Paradromics among the world leaders in brain-computer interfaces and marks a rare moment in which science intersects directly with the most basic human experience, communicating.
The center of this study is the Connect One by BCI Connexus, which is basically an implant constructed of titanium equipped with more than 400 ultrathin platinum iridium electrodes, each thinner than a hair, designed to record signals from individual neurons at a high data rate.
The surgery inserts the cortical module, the internal transceiver and the extension cable under the skin, the electrodes extend just below the surface of the brain in the motor region responsible for the lips, tongue and larynx, the captured neural activity follows a subcutaneous cable to a transceiver in the chest that transmits the data wirelessly over a coptic connection to a second external module.
This device is powered by inductive charging like a smartphone and sends the information to a small computer that uses advanced language and AI models to decode what the patient tried to say, in text or synthesized speech, the trial will begin with only two people, each volunteer will receive a 7.5 mm wide implant, inserted 1.5 mm into the motor cortex.
For the first time, a fully implantable interface will attempt to generate synthetic voice in real time using old recordings of the same participants' speech. The study will also evaluate whether the chip can identify imagined hand movements, opening up the possibility of controlling a cursor, a step towards returning digital independence to those who have lost almost all forms of interaction.
