An international team of researchers around CorTec’s long-standing cooperation partner Niels Bierbaumer, University of Tübingen and Wyss Center Geneva, reported to be able to communicate with completely paralyzed persons in the so-called Complete Locked-In State who are suffering from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.
Through a combined method using near-infrared spectroscopy together with electroencephalography (EEG) the researchers could overcome the limitations of the approaches tested so far. The patients were asked to answer general and also personal questions with either “yes” or “no”. The researchers determine the correct response rate with over 70%. A particularly surprising outcome of the study: The patients answered the question, if they were happy, repeatedly with “yes”.
The researchers regard their results as “a first step towards abolition of complete locked-in states, at least for ALS”.
