Speech Neuroprosthesis

A brain-computer interface that decodes neural activity associated with attempted or imagined speech and converts it into text, synthesized voice, or both. Speech neuroprostheses are designed for people with anarthria or severe dysarthria from ALS, brainstem stroke, locked-in syndrome, or similar conditions, who have lost the motor ability to speak but typically retain the underlying speech-planning circuitry. Recent intracortical systems decode at conversational rates (60+ words per minute) using transformer-based phoneme decoders combined with language models for word and sentence prediction. From an accessibility standpoint, speech neuroprostheses are the most direct AAC technology yet developed - they restore the user's own intended speech rather than substituting an alternate selection method - but they remain confined to clinical trials and require surgically implanted electrodes.