SURVEY FOR PEOPLE WITH CEREBRAL PALSY

There are 660,000 people in the USA with cerebral palsy. Some people have difficulty speaking due to difficulty with controlling the articulators, that is, the tongue, jaw, lips and cheeks. Most people with cerebral palsy are not cognitively challenged and have normal memories but those with speech difficulties have difficulty making their thoughts known to the listener.

The question Dr. Kennedy has for people with cerebral palsy is: If available, would you want a speech prosthetic so that you could speak normally? More information on the Speech Prosthetic is on this web site. 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 given a number, 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.

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 (done in two subjects). 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. To access the speech motor cortex, requires surgery and training for many months.

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. After 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 anyone. This survey aims to determine the degree of interest in the speech prosthetic.