View national news coverage on how a new brain-computer interface technology developed by UC Davis Health restores interpersonal communication with a transformative level of accuracy — allowing a man with ALS to ‘speak’ again.

“Yet the results surpassed expectations, the researchers reported on Wednesday in The New England Journal of Medicine, setting a new bar for implanted speech decoders and illustrating the potential power of such devices for people with speech impairments.”

Aug. 14 New York Times story “A.L.S. Stole His Voice. A.I. Retrieved It.”

“The technology is still in the early stages of testing, but already it’s much faster than more traditional assisted devices — like the one Stephen Hawking famously used — that track muscle, facial or eye movements to slowly type out words.”

Aug. 14 NBC News story “New technology allows man with ALS to communicate using brain implant and AI voice”

“(My daughter) hadn’t had the ability to communicate very much with me for about two years. Now that is very different. I can help her mother to parent her. I can have a deeper relationship with her and tell her what I am thinking. I can simply tell her how much I love her.”

Patient Casey Harrell, speaking about communicating with his kindergarten-aged daughter, in a Aug. 14 Scientific American story “Brain-to-Speech Tech Good Enough for Everyday Use Debuts in a Man with ALS”

“I am about half of the speed of a normal person who’s talking, and that is good enough for now to keep up with the flow of conversation. And this is important because communication is the lifeblood of life.”

Harrell, speaking in the New England Journal of Medicine “Intention To Treat” podcast episode 36, “Restoring Lost Speech”

“I would love to get to the point where I can walk up to a patient and say, ‘I’m really sorry that you’ve been diagnosed with ALS. Your brain-computer interface surgery is scheduled for next week. We’ll get you communicating in no time.’ ”

Neurosurgeon David Brandman, in the ALS Association blog post “Advances in Brain-Computer Interface Technology Help One Man Find His Voice”