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Brain Implant Lets Paralyzed Woman Speak Freely for First Time
(MENAFN) A Michigan woman with a progressive motor neuron disease has become the first person to use an experimental brain-computer interface to freely generate her own words, field open-ended questions, and speak directly with family members, US neurotech firm Paradromics announced Monday.
The woman, in her 60s, is the inaugural participant in Paradromics' Connect-One Early Feasibility Study, testing the company's Connexus implant. Earlier brain-computer interface trials typically had participants repeat scripted sentences chosen by researchers. This time was different: she chose her own words. The system captured neural signals tied to her intended speech and converted them into text and synthetic voice output in real time.
The moment free-speech mode switched on, her first self-selected sentence came through as: "Okay, I have a lot to say."
Paradromics confirmed the sentence was decoded flawlessly, with zero errors.
Later in that same session, she placed a live phone call to her grandchildren — asking them questions and responding through the device's generated voice.
"She determines what she wants to say, and the system enables her to say it," said Matt Angle, Paradromics' founder and CEO, in a company statement.
The participant lives with severe dysarthria, a condition that garbles speech and makes it hard to understand. She can still speak to a limited degree, and her husband typically understands her — but conversing with others has grown increasingly difficult, the company said.
When University of Michigan Health neurosurgeon Matthew Willsey asked what she'd tell someone weighing the implant surgery, her device-generated response was direct: "Don't be afraid. It's a wonderful experience to be able to help others by your participation in the research study."
Paradromics said the system correctly decoded every word she intended to communicate.
Willsey called it a landmark moment in the push to give people with speech-affecting conditions the ability to communicate freely using a fully implanted device.
The Connexus system relies on 421 microelectrodes that capture signals from individual neurons. Those signals route to a small transceiver implanted in the participant's chest, then transmit wirelessly through intact skin to an external receiver and computer, according to University of Michigan Health.
Researchers are also tracking how her neural activity shifts across different stages — listening to language, preparing to speak, attempting speech, and silently generating language in her mind.
Paradromics reported identifying distinct neural signatures for attempted speech (deliberate efforts to produce words) versus imagined speech (internally generating language without attempting the physical act of speaking).
Importantly, the findings don't suggest the device can passively read unprompted thoughts — the results reflect language she deliberately generated during structured, supervised research tasks.
She received the Connexus implant at University of Michigan Health in June and will be monitored for six years as researchers track the device's long-term safety, durability, and capacity to restore communication and enable computer control.
The US Food and Drug Administration granted Paradromics an Investigational Device Exemption for the study in November 2025 — authorization to test the device in humans, though it stops short of approval for commercial or general use.
The trial spans three sites: University of Michigan Health, UC Davis Health, and Mass General Brigham Neuroscience Institute.
Because this result comes from the study's very first participant, the findings are preliminary. Paradromics has not yet published the results in a peer-reviewed journal, and researchers say more participants and longer-term data are needed before the system's safety, consistency, and real-world usefulness can be fully evaluated.
The woman, in her 60s, is the inaugural participant in Paradromics' Connect-One Early Feasibility Study, testing the company's Connexus implant. Earlier brain-computer interface trials typically had participants repeat scripted sentences chosen by researchers. This time was different: she chose her own words. The system captured neural signals tied to her intended speech and converted them into text and synthetic voice output in real time.
The moment free-speech mode switched on, her first self-selected sentence came through as: "Okay, I have a lot to say."
Paradromics confirmed the sentence was decoded flawlessly, with zero errors.
Later in that same session, she placed a live phone call to her grandchildren — asking them questions and responding through the device's generated voice.
"She determines what she wants to say, and the system enables her to say it," said Matt Angle, Paradromics' founder and CEO, in a company statement.
The participant lives with severe dysarthria, a condition that garbles speech and makes it hard to understand. She can still speak to a limited degree, and her husband typically understands her — but conversing with others has grown increasingly difficult, the company said.
When University of Michigan Health neurosurgeon Matthew Willsey asked what she'd tell someone weighing the implant surgery, her device-generated response was direct: "Don't be afraid. It's a wonderful experience to be able to help others by your participation in the research study."
Paradromics said the system correctly decoded every word she intended to communicate.
Willsey called it a landmark moment in the push to give people with speech-affecting conditions the ability to communicate freely using a fully implanted device.
The Connexus system relies on 421 microelectrodes that capture signals from individual neurons. Those signals route to a small transceiver implanted in the participant's chest, then transmit wirelessly through intact skin to an external receiver and computer, according to University of Michigan Health.
Researchers are also tracking how her neural activity shifts across different stages — listening to language, preparing to speak, attempting speech, and silently generating language in her mind.
Paradromics reported identifying distinct neural signatures for attempted speech (deliberate efforts to produce words) versus imagined speech (internally generating language without attempting the physical act of speaking).
Importantly, the findings don't suggest the device can passively read unprompted thoughts — the results reflect language she deliberately generated during structured, supervised research tasks.
She received the Connexus implant at University of Michigan Health in June and will be monitored for six years as researchers track the device's long-term safety, durability, and capacity to restore communication and enable computer control.
The US Food and Drug Administration granted Paradromics an Investigational Device Exemption for the study in November 2025 — authorization to test the device in humans, though it stops short of approval for commercial or general use.
The trial spans three sites: University of Michigan Health, UC Davis Health, and Mass General Brigham Neuroscience Institute.
Because this result comes from the study's very first participant, the findings are preliminary. Paradromics has not yet published the results in a peer-reviewed journal, and researchers say more participants and longer-term data are needed before the system's safety, consistency, and real-world usefulness can be fully evaluated.
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