Experimental device translates brain waves into speech

MSNBC : A high-tech headband known as iBrain, which can translate brain waves into speech, has been developed by NeuroVigil, a company based in San Diego, California. The company’s founder, Philip Low, has been working on a prototype with Stephen Hawking, the British theoretical physicist who is almost completely paralyzed due to amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). The system uses a small head-mounted receiver to pick up different types of brain waves, and a computer algorithm to analyze and encode them for a text-based speech reader. Currently Hawking uses an IR sensor system mounted on his glasses, which interprets twitches in his cheek. Once the iBrain is up and running, it could have many other applications as well—controlling prosthetic devices to give ALS sufferers mobility, diagnosing sleep apnea, studying autism, or monitoring other brain conditions.