ALS Nexus 2026: Implantable device decodes patients’ brain signals
Work could set the stage for ALS patients to control devices with their thoughts
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An experimental implantable device from Precision Neuroscience enabled computers to decode brain signals to predict movement and speech, which could eventually help create assistive devices for people with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).
That’s according to findings from preliminary tests conducted in patients undergoing routine neurosurgical procedures, which were detailed in a poster presented at the ALS Nexus conference. These initial tests also demonstrated that the implantation procedure was fully reversible. The company hopes that this work could form the basis of brain-computer interface (BCI) technology that could eventually allow people with ALS to control digital devices using their thoughts.
“Findings from our patients, clinical partners, and research team are informing the development of a fully implantable BCI system, with the aim to begin deploying the device in ALS patients for hands-free device control,” researchers wrote in the poster’s abstract.
The poster presented at the conference, which is being held Aug. 23-26 in Orlando, Florida, and virtually, is titled “Empowering Autonomy in the ALS Community: Translation of the Layer 7 Minimally Invasive Brain-Computer Interface.” Precision employs several of the study’s authors.
Precision’s brain-computer interface is minimally invasive
ALS affects the nerve cells that control movement, leading to a variety of symptoms. When the disease affects the muscles in the face and neck, speech problems can develop. While there are technologies that allow people with ALS to control devices or communicate when their motor function becomes more limited, these may become more difficult to use as the disease continues to progress.
BCIs could offer a route for hands-free device control in people with ALS and other conditions that affect movement. A BCI records signals from the brain and then decodes them to try to determine a person’s intentions. It then uses this information to create an output. For example, a speech synthesis BCI could decode neural signals associated with saying a word or phrase and then produce the corresponding speech.
There are many experimental BCIs. However, it is challenging to create a minimally invasive device that can capture enough information to effectively decode brain signals.
Precision’s Layer 7 aims to fill this gap. The device is a very thin sheet that contains more than 1,000 tiny electrodes to record brain activity. Unlike other neural recording devices that penetrate brain tissue, Layer 7 sits on the brain’s surface without penetrating it. Surgeons can insert the device through a tiny slit in the skull rather than removing a larger portion of the skull through a conventional craniotomy.
“This approach will enable early clinical testing, accelerating access to [BCI] technology for individuals living with [ALS],” the team wrote.
Company hopes to begin testing in ALS patients
Before beginning experiments involving people with ALS, however, Precision tested the device in people undergoing routine neurosurgical procedures. This allowed researchers to collect data during surgery and then for a few days after the operation.
A total of 68 people have had the device placed for testing in the operating room during neurosurgery. Participants completed tasks related to movement or speech while they were awake during the procedures. Throughout testing, the Layer 7 device recorded signals and relayed the data to a computer for processing.
Earlier this year, scientists at Precision and their collaborators published an early report about four individuals in whom the device was tested in this setting. Three participants completed a task where they navigated a cursor right, left, up, or down on a screen using a joystick.
Layer 7 recordings during this task helped train a computer program to decode the intended movement direction. After about 20 minutes of training, the participants were able to control the cursor using their brain signals rather than the joystick. Analysis conducted after the experiment showed the decoder correctly moved the cursor into the intended direction with up to 84% accuracy.
These preliminary findings demonstrate that our Layer 7 device shows strong translational potential for next-generation BCI applications.
The fourth participant listened to recordings of four words and repeated each word aloud. A program used the brain recordings from this task to classify which of the four words the participant was saying. A separate model also generated synthetic vocalizations based on the participant’s brain activity.
In the operating room setting, the system wasn’t able to produce intelligible speech, but the classification model could distinguish between the four words with 77.5% accuracy. Additionally, the speech-synthesis model could distinguish speech from silence, with the synthetic vocalizations occurring at times that corresponded to the participant’s spoken words.
The ALS Nexus poster also included 18 participants who had the device implanted for an average of three days. The presenters reported that the surgical procedure was fully reversible in all the patients who received implants.
“These preliminary findings demonstrate that our Layer 7 device shows strong translational potential for next-generation BCI applications,” the team noted.
They hope to initiate testing in people with ALS, who might benefit from movement and speech decoding.
Note: The ALS News Today team is providing virtual coverage of the ALS Nexus Aug. 23-26. Go here to see the latest stories from the conference.
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