Carnegie Mellon University's Breakthrough in Focused Ultrasound Technology for Brain-Computer Interface

On June 20th, TapTechNews reported that according to ScienceDaily, a research team from Carnegie Mellon University in the US has successfully integrated a novel focused ultrasound stimulation technology. In a study involving 25 participants, they achieved two-way brain-computer interface (BCI, Brain Computer Interface) capabilities and utilized machine learning to encode and decode brainwaves.

Non-invasive brain-computer interfaces have the advantages of being inexpensive, safe, and applicable to almost everyone. However, due to the fact that the signals are recorded on the scalp rather than inside the brain, the signal quality is lower and there are some limitations.

This research has opened up a new avenue. It not only significantly enhances the signal quality but also, by stimulating specific neural circuits, improves the overall performance of non-invasive brain-computer interfaces. The relevant paper was published in the latest issue of Nature Communications.

TapTechNews attached the relevant paper address: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-024-48576-8.

With the help of a 'communication prosthesis', 25 participants were asked to spell phrases like 'Carnegie Mellon' using a brain-computer interface speller (a visual-motor assistive tool that includes the entire alphabet). The participants wore electroencephalogram (EEG) caps and simply by looking at the letters, they could generate EEG signals to spell the desired words.

When the researchers applied a focused ultrasound beam externally to the V5 area of the brain (a part of the visual cortex), they found that the performance of the participants' non-invasive brain-computer interfaces was greatly enhanced. The brain-computer interface integrated with focused ultrasound neuromodulation actively altered the engagement of neural circuits, maximally enhancing the performance of the brain-computer interface.