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Electrode Implant Gives Mute Man a (Synthesized) Voice

Posted by timothy on from the paradoxically-enough dept.

Iddo Genuth writes with an excerpt from The Future of Things: "A surgical procedure performed by a team from Boston University, Massachusetts led by Professor Frank Guenther, has enabled a mute man to speak again. An electrode implanted in the patient's brain made it possible for the patient to produce vowels by thinking them, using a speech synthesizer. In the future, this breakthrough may help patients with similar injuries produce entire sentences, using signals from their brains."

12 of 58 comments (clear)

  1. Using your brain to talk ... by zindorsky · · Score: 5, Funny

    Using your brain to talk ... just imagine what that would mean for Slashdot! Total upheaval.

    --
    If the geiger counter does not click, the coffee, she is not thick.
    1. Re:Using your brain to talk ... by Your.Master · · Score: 4, Funny

      Or complete silence.

    2. Re:Using your brain to talk ... by Chris+Burke · · Score: 4, Funny

      If I involuntarily said whatever I was thinking, my girlfriend would never stop slapping me.

      --

      The enemies of Democracy are
    3. Re:Using your brain to talk ... by rudeboy1 · · Score: 4, Funny

      I think my girlfriend would forgive me, but I'm pretty sure I'd find myself out of a job, in a dozen harrassment suits, and pepper-sprayed blind, and that's just by the end of the week.

      --
      Raging in an online forum won't do anything for the world around you. To see change, you must take action.
  2. Tourettes syndrome by Culture20 · · Score: 3, Funny

    Damn she's got a nice pair of...
    "Pig!" *SLAP*

  3. Oh dear by Roland+Piquepaille · · Score: 4, Funny

    [...] made it possible for the patient to produce vowels by thinking them

    I hope the guy isn't welsh...

  4. Re:I am an optimist... I hope! by duckInferno · · Score: 3, Funny

    "Duck, could you please make dinner tonight?"
    "I'm afraid I can't do that, Dave."

    --
    Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, watch it -- I'm huge!
  5. Do You Feel Like We Do by devotedlhasa · · Score: 5, Funny

    Easier to sing those Peter Frampton songs...

  6. Re:I am an optimist... I hope! by SirLurksAlot · · Score: 3, Funny

    You could go around quoting robotic things like "would-you-like-to-play-a-game-[?]", or configure yourself to sound like GLADDoS or that machine thing from robo cop.

    Oh yeah, I can't wait to make myself sound like a [growling tiger|squealing pig] when I do fall down or aim at someone!

    Heck, if we're talking about giving ourselves robotic voices I want to shout "EXTERMINATE!" in a shrill voice whenever I see a British man with bad teeth, a brown coat, and an outlandishly long and colorful scarf. :-D

    --
    God, schmod. I want my monkey man!
  7. Re:I am an optimist... I hope! by duckInferno · · Score: 3, Funny

    You could have macros too, of course; predefined wave files you could play whenever you want. You'd be a meatspace ventrilo harasser.

    --
    Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, watch it -- I'm huge!
  8. Re:christians don't allow this by Arcane_Rhino · · Score: 2, Funny
    I find your lack of faith disturbing...

    Yessiree, Darth Vader is the voice I'M pickin!

  9. In completely unrelated news... by pwnies · · Score: 2, Funny

    ...the group "Daft Punk" announced today that they had hired on a lead singer. That and the weather at 10.