BETHESDA, MD — In a seminal advancement for neurotechnology, an NIH-funded research team has successfully demonstrated that a man unable to talk due to paralysis can use a brain-computer interface (BCI) system independently at home to communicate.

Losing the ability to talk and communicate can be devastating for people with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and other conditions that cause paralysis. While alternative communication devices exist, they often have limitations such as being slow, having limited vocabulary, or depending on some residual movement of the hands, face, or eyes. To address these limits, scientists developed brain-computer interfaces that translate brain activity directly into words.

Clinical Insight: Electrodes are placed across the motor cortex, the part of the brain that controls speech and other body movements. The electrodes sense the brain signals as a person tries to talk, and the device translates the signals into words. This approach has now shown remarkable promise outside of controlled laboratory settings.

An NIH-funded research team led by Drs. Sergey Stavisky and David Brandman at the University of California, Davis, set out to test a brain-computer interface in a real-world setting: a trial participant’s home. The study was part of an ongoing clinical trial testing the safety and feasibility of a brain-computer interface for people with paralysis, with results published in Nature Medicine on June 15, 2026, and highlighted by the NIH on July 14, 2026.

Researchers first tested the new technology in the home of Casey Harrell, a 45-year-old study participant. While Harrell’s thinking remained clear, muscle weakness due to ALS made speaking difficult. The system used computer programs to decode Harrell’s brain activity into words when he attempted to speak, pulling from a vocabulary of 125,000 words to display the decoded words on a computer screen. The system also spoke the words aloud using a digital version of Harrell's voice created from recordings of him before he lost the ability to speak.

Key Research Findings

  • Independent Use: After initial setup by researchers, caregivers were taught to set up the system, allowing Harrell to use it almost daily for over 23 months.
  • Extensive Usage: Harrell used the system for more than 3,800 hours of in-person conversations, video calls, email, and text messaging.
  • High Accuracy: Across more than 180,000 sentences, Harrell rated 79% as correct or mostly correct, and was able to correct 13% of sentences using brain activity or eye movements to guide a cursor.
  • Progressive Improvement: Over time, he could make longer and more accurate statements, enhancing his natural way of communicating.

"It is something that allows me to communicate more in my natural way of communicating than any other technology that I have experienced," Harrell says through the system. The study showed that caregivers could successfully set up the system on their own, and a person with paralysis could then use it independently over long periods of time.

While these results are promising, more work is needed. In addition to testing the system in more participants, researchers plan to use the large amount of data collected during the study to improve the system. They also plan to make it smaller, more durable, and more portable.

"For years, brain computer interfaces have lived in highly controlled research labs," Brandman noted. "This work shows that we may have crossed a threshold, by empowering a person with paralysis to speak on his own terms."

Official Source Verification

For the comprehensive, peer-reviewed methodology and full statistical analysis, refer to the official NIH Research Matters report and the Nature Medicine publication.

Related Topics:

#2026#Medical Breakthrough#medical research#Brain-Computer Interface#ALS#Paralysis#NIH#Nature Medicine#Neurotechnology#UC Davis
olivia
oliviaStaff Writer

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