US scientists convert paralysed man's brain waves to speech

(L-R) David Moses and Dr. Edward Chang are part of a team that designed a neuroprosthetic device which successfully translated the brain waves of a paralysed man into complete sentences — UCSF via AP

In a world first, US researchers have developed a neuroprosthetic device that successfully translated the brain waves of a paralysed man into complete sentences, according to a scientific paper published Thursday.

"This is an important technological milestone for a person who cannot communicate naturally," said David Moses, a postdoctoral engineer at the University of California San Francisco (UCSF), and one of the lead authors of the study in the New England Journal of Medicine.