Text-to-speech brain implant restores ALS patient's voice

Casey Harrell and observers react as a brain-computer interface system works on the first attempt, in this handout undated picture obtained by Reuters on August 14, 2024. UC Davis Health/University of California Regents/Handout via REUTERS

(Reuters) - A man with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) who had lost his ability to speak has been able to communicate with a Blackrock Neurotech text-to-speech brain implant, researchers said in one of two new studies showing the promise of brain-computer interfaces for restoring speech in paralyzed patients.

The studies were published on Wednesday in the New England Journal of Medicine. They provide "compelling new evidence of rapid progress in clinically viable, practical applications" of such devices for re-establishing communication after paralysis, Dr. Edward Chang, a neurosurgeon at the University of California, San Francisco, who was not involved in the work, wrote in an editorial accompanying the studies.