Brain Implants Can Detect What Patients Hear

Posted by samzenpus on Wednesday February 15, 2012 @11:00AM from the grandma,-what-big-electrodes-you-have dept.

kkleiner writes "A group of 15 patients suffering from either epileptic seizures or brain tumors volunteered to allow scientists to insert electrodes into their brains. After neurosurgeons cut a hole in their skulls, the research team placed 256 electrodes over the part of the brain that processes auditory signals called the temporal lobe. The scientists then played words, one at a time, to the patients while recording brain activity in the temporal lobe. A computer was able to reconstruct the original word 80 to 90 percent of the time."

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Re:Wouldn't it just be easier to plant a microphon by alphamax · 2012-02-15 11:36 · Score: 5, Insightful

Because a microphone that is on a person's body is going to pick up everything that person hears as well.
And for that matter, it will probably be loads more reliable than trying to decode electrical signals that we are only just beginning to comprehend.
Experiments such as this one are the reason we are beginning to comprehend the electrical signals in the brain. The goal of the experiment isn't to understand WHAT the patients are hearing, but HOW the patients are hearing.