A spelling device for the paralysed

N. Birbaumer (), N. Ghanayim, T. Hinterberger, I. Iversen, B. Kotchoubey, A. Kübler, J. Perelmouter, E. Taub and H. Flor
Additional contact information
N. Birbaumer: Institute of Medical Psychology and Behavioural Neurobiology, University of Tbingen
N. Ghanayim: Institute of Medical Psychology and Behavioural Neurobiology, University of Tbingen
T. Hinterberger: Institute of Medical Psychology and Behavioural Neurobiology, University of Tbingen
I. Iversen: University of North Florida
B. Kotchoubey: Institute of Medical Psychology and Behavioural Neurobiology, University of Tbingen
A. Kübler: Institute of Medical Psychology and Behavioural Neurobiology, University of Tbingen
J. Perelmouter: Institute of Medical Psychology and Behavioural Neurobiology, University of Tbingen
E. Taub: University of Alabama
H. Flor: Humboldt-University

Nature, 1999, vol. 398, issue 6725, 297-298

Abstract: Abstract When Jean-Dominique Bauby suffered from a cortico-subcortical stroke that led to complete paralysis with totally intact sensory and cognitive functions, he described his experience in The Diving-Bell and the Butterfly1 as “something like a giant invisible diving-bell holds my whole body prisoner”. This horrifying condition also occurs as a consequence of a progressive neurological disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, which involves progressive degeneration of all the motor neurons of the somatic motor system. These ‘locked-in’ patients ultimately become unable to express themselves and to communicate even their most basic wishes or desires, as they can no longer control their muscles to activate communication devices. We have developed a new means of communication for the completely paralysed that uses slow cortical potentials (SCPs) of the electro-encephalogram to drive an electronic spelling device.

Date: 1999
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (12)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/18581 Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:nature:v:398:y:1999:i:6725:d:10.1038_18581

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/

DOI: 10.1038/18581

Access Statistics for this article

Nature is currently edited by Magdalena Skipper

More articles in Nature from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().