Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!yale!bunker!wtm
From: 34AEJ7D@CMUVM.BITNET (Bill Gorman)
Newsgroups: misc.handicap
Subject: Re: Communication Aid for impaired persons
Message-ID: <15625@bunker.UUCP>
Date: 16 Nov 90 14:52:11 GMT
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Reply-To: 34AEJ7D@CMUVM.BITNET (Bill Gorman)
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Index Number: 11718
>
>In article <15392@bunker.UUCP>, char@b11.ingr.com (Orrin Char) writes:
>> Index Number: 11490
>> A couple of engineers and I are working in our spare time
>> with an ALS patient who suffers from a degradation of her
>> muscular control.  We are attempting to develop a more
>
>Now, don't make fun of me, I'm pretty sure this has been ruled out,
>but only pretty sure!  W training a human can control his brain
>waves to a (very) limited extent, so could we hook that *PERSON W ALS*
>(Is she really that patient?) to an EEG and w some pretty sophisticated
>DSP do some rudimentary control?  At least as much as a thumbswitch?

I think something like this is possible, for several reasons.

     1.   I have worked with biofeedback and alpha-wave monitors
          fairly extensively. The circuitry for detecting the alpha
          brain waves is fairly simple, not too expensive and provides
          a sharp detection cutoff point between a subject who is
          producing alpha waves and one who is not. One disadvantage: it
          requires a training period, and practice, to be able to control
          alpha wave generation in one's mind.

     2.   I have seen references to military experiments aimed at
          achieving this same goal in a light, portable helmet. The
          purpose: enhanced control of on-board systems/weapons in
          fighter aircraft.

     3.   Any of you who may be familiar with the term "cyberspace" will
          probably recognize this as precisely the sort of application
          envisaged there - and which is already in operation in
          some very limited ways/environments.