Handwriting Reimagined with Brain-to-Text Technology

By Mark Miller

Imagine that you could just think about writing something down, and those thoughts would generate the actual written letters — no hands involved. This is happening with brain-to-text technology.

A 65-year-old man paralyzed from the neck down was able to turn his imagined handwriting into text with the aid of electrodes implanted in his brain. The electrodes sensed the electrical activity in the part of his brain that controls the movement of his hands and fingers. As he imagined writing letters, researchers used algorithms to understand the neural patterns that accompanied the visualization of each letter and translated the patterns into text on a computer screen.

Helping the Disabled

One of the important goals of this type of research and technology is to help those with physical limitations, like paralysis, communicate more efficiently. Researchers at Stanford University report that the man who participated in their study was able to achieve typing speeds of 90 characters or roughly 15 words per minute. That’s about as fast as those in the participant’s age group can type on a smartphone.

A Big Surprise

One of the intriguing aspects of the Stanford study was that the technology worked long after an injury occurred. “The big surprise is that even years and years after spinal cord injury, where you haven’t been able to use your hands or fingers, we can still listen in on that electrical activity. It’s still very active,” Stanford researcher Krishna Shenoy stated in Science News.

The New Frontier

Brain-to-text technology is based on the fact that our brains generate a corresponding pattern of electrical activity whenever we move or speak. For some time, scientists have been able to capture these impulses through machines to aid those with disabilities. These brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) can help restore movement for some with paralysis. However, developments like brain-to-text technology may signal the next frontier where physical activity is executed using the mind.¹

More research is needed. “There’s little doubt that this will work again in other people,” continued Shenoy. He and the research team are already planning tests with additional subjects. Their results, and those from other research, may help people unable to speak or move communicate in ways never thought of before. Imagine that.

1. Stetka, B. (2021, May 12). New Brain Implant Turns Visualized Letters into Text. Scientific American.
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/new-brain-implant-turns-visualized-letters-into-text