Anyone can become locked-in, that is mute and paralyzed, yet intelligent and alert. This can happen due to a brainstem stroke, ALS and other conditions. If it were to happen to YOU, would you want a speech prosthetic so that you could speak again and break out of the locked-in state? This survey is also for those who are already locked-in. By answering this confidential survey, Dr. Kennedy will use this information to determine the best and most affordable way to provide the speech prosthetic. It is confidential because when you answer the survey you will be numbered, with no name, email address or etc. provided to Dr. Kennedy. If you wish to contact him, of course you may do so. His email is phlkennedy@aol.com.
As you know, being locked-in due to ALS, brainstem stroke and other conditions eventually leads to you becoming paralyzed and mute. Studies in six humans, supervised by neuroscientist Philip R. Kennedy, M.D., Ph.D., provide strong evidence that speech signals, spoken silently, and recorded from the speech motor cortex of the brain can be decoded to detect words. Dr. Kennedy has had an Investigational Device Exemption from the US FDA to allow these procedures in the US, and Dr. Kennedy himself was one of the six humans implanted.
Special, long lasting, neurotrophic electrodes are implanted under the surface of the brain by a neurosurgeon. The surgery is performed under general anesthesia with a typical 10 day recovery time. Three months are required for the electrode to embed itself within the brain. At that time, the researchers work diligently with the subject to build a library of words from his or her silent speech. When attempting to speak silently, the neural signals would recognize the words in the library and the patient’s speech would be heard from the computer speakers.
Disclaimer: This survey in no way is meant to promise that this speech prosthetic will be made available. The development is still in the research stage and may never be available to any locked-in folks. This survey aims to determine the degree of interest in the speech prosthetic.