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| Researcher Kuniaki Ozawa of Hitachi introduces the device. |
Japanese scientists have developed a device that allows patients with muscular atrophy to “speak” yes or no by measuring blood flow in the brain.
The product, named “Kokoro-gatari” or Mind-talk, is the result of a collaboration between Hitachi, Excel of Mechatronix, and the Japan Association of Muscular Atrophy Patients.
Muscular atrophy is a disease of motor neurons (the nerve cells that control muscles), which leads to paralysis of all controlled muscles, leaving patients unable to perform any movements, even something as small as blinking. However, patients can still think normally, thereby controlling the blood flow in their brains. Utilizing this characteristic, the research team developed the Mind-talk device, which consists of a band emitting near-infrared rays worn on the forehead to measure blood flow in the brain.
When a patient wants to say “yes,” they mentally count or sing in their head, causing blood to flow to the frontal lobe, which Mind-talk detects as an increase in blood flow. To say “no,” the patient simply relaxes to keep the blood flow unchanged. The answer appears in just 36 seconds, with an accuracy of up to 80%.
This impressive project originated from a heartfelt phone call to Hitachi in 1999 from a husband caring for his wife suffering from severe muscular atrophy. “Caregivers often wonder what they can do to satisfy the patient, and until now, there has been no way to address this issue,” said Kensuke Yanagita, President of the Muscular Atrophy Patients Association. “While Mind-talk may still lack 20% accuracy to be perfect, what it has achieved is a significant leap from zero. At the very least, caregivers can know if the patient feels satisfied or not.”
Mind-talk is expected to be available in Japan by the end of this year, priced at no more than $4,200.
Mỹ Linh (according to AFP)
