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Science Forum Index » Cognitive Science Forum » A Prison Without Walls
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| Prisoner at War |
 Posted: Fri Dec 14, 2007 9:32 am |
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http://www.cnn.com/2007/HEALTH/conditions/12/14/locked.in/index.html
EXCERPTS
This condition is not the same as other forms of paralysis where you
feel nothing in the affected areas. Ramsey has 100 percent sensation
all over his body. An itch can become excruciating with no way to
communicate that he needs it scratched. He has frequent muscle spasms
as well, which can be painful.
....
Doctors told the Ramseys that their son has no chance of getting
better.
"There's always hope, but a large portion of it is in the category of
miracles," said Eddie Ramsey.
But new research may give Erik Ramsey the miracle he has been waiting
for. Dr. Phil Kennedy, chief scientist at Neural Signals Inc., a
company he founded to conduct research on the brain and communication.
He came up with a revolutionary idea that he believed could turn
Ramsey's thoughts into speech.
He invented an electrode that detects the neural signals in the
speech motor area of Ramsey's brain. In December 2004, the electrode
was implanted, and Kennedy, along with four independent labs, began
decoding the signals in Ramsey's brain. The researchers asked him to
think of specific vowel sounds, then mapped his brain activity. By
knowing what his brain looked like when he thought each specific
sound, scientists could translate the activity into a language that a
voice synthesizer could read.
Dr. Frank Guenther, associate professor of cognitive and neural
systems at Boston University, said his lab, one of three others
pursuing neural signal translation, had a breakthrough recently: They
were able to hear the sounds Ramsey was trying to say using the
decoder they built. |
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