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Paralyzed Patients "Speak" With Their Pupils

Posted by samzenpus on from the trying-to-listen dept.

sciencehabit writes "Lying in bed, unable to move a muscle, so-called locked-in patients have few ways to communicate with the outside world. But researchers have now found a way to use the widening and narrowing of the pupils to send a message, potentially helping these patients break the silence. The trick is a webcam-like setup that tracks pupil dilation. When people focus on a hard problem--say a math problem--their pupils dilate. Employing the approach, some locked-in patients could answer 'yes' and 'no' questions just by dilating their eyes."

3 of 72 comments (clear)

  1. Why bother with pupil dilation? by Conspiracy_Of_Doves · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Why don't they go straight to neurofeedback? The hardware is getting a lot less expensive.

    --

    Technoli
  2. Euthanasia Please by nukenerd · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I sincerely hope that by the time I might get to that state that the idiots who oppose euthanasia have been recognised as the nutjobs that they are and that I can be put out of my misery. If you kept a dog in that state (in the UK at least) you would be prosecuted for cruelty.

  3. Re:Facilitated Communication Hoax by chuckinator · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Thank you for your feedback. I was actually hoping to hear someone with specific experience with these techniques share their impression of the technique.

    Can you expand on your experience with this technique? How did it work in your late wife's case? What was the latency of the communication like due to the obvious bandwidth constraints of this particular medium?