Neurotechnology for rehabilitation

Orateur : Blaise YVERT (Laboratoire Braintech, Inserm U1205, Grenoble)

Neural prosthesis and brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) aim at restoring lost functions following lesions or degeneration of the central nervous system. These technologies rely on large-scale brain interfacing using arrays of microelectrodes to record and/or elicit activity within neural populations. Current developments of brain implants target thousands of channels to achieve neural control of prostheses with high numbers of degrees of freedom. Such perspective makes possible to envision restoring continuous speech from ongoing brain activity. In this context, I will first present our me-thodological research line aiming at improving large-scale CNS interfacing with high-count micro-electrode arrays and at developing real-time and automatic neural signal processing schemes based on artificial neural networks. I will then present our ongoing project targeting a closed-loop BCI paradigm to restore continuous speech from real-time decoding of cortical activity and the online control of an articulatory-based speech synthesizer. Finally, I will stress the importance of an ethical reflection anchored in the lab to accompany these developments.

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