Virtual typing by people with tetraplegia using a self-calibrating intracortical brain-computer interface

Beata Jarosiewicz; Anish A Sarma; Daniel Bacher; Nicolas Y Masse; John D Simeral; Brittany Sorice; Erin M Oakley; Christine Blabe; Chethan Pandarinath; Vikash Gilja; Sydney S Cash; Emad N Eskandar; Gerhard Friehs; Jaimie M Henderson; Krishna V Shenoy; John P Donoghue; Leigh R Hochberg

doi:10.1126/scitranslmed.aac7328

Virtual typing by people with tetraplegia using a self-calibrating intracortical brain-computer interface

Sci Transl Med. 2015 Nov 11;7(313):313ra179. doi: 10.1126/scitranslmed.aac7328.

Authors

Beata Jarosiewicz¹, Anish A Sarma², Daniel Bacher³, Nicolas Y Masse⁴, John D Simeral⁵, Brittany Sorice⁶, Erin M Oakley⁶, Christine Blabe⁷, Chethan Pandarinath⁸, Vikash Gilja⁹, Sydney S Cash¹⁰, Emad N Eskandar¹¹, Gerhard Friehs¹², Jaimie M Henderson¹³, Krishna V Shenoy¹⁴, John P Donoghue¹⁵, Leigh R Hochberg¹⁶

Affiliations

¹ Department of Neuroscience, Brown University, Providence, RI 02912, USA. Center for Neurorestoration and Neurotechnology, Rehabilitation R&D Service, Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Providence, RI 02908, USA. Brown Institute for Brain Science, Brown University, Providence, RI 02912, USA. beata@brown.edu.
² Center for Neurorestoration and Neurotechnology, Rehabilitation R&D Service, Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Providence, RI 02908, USA. Brown Institute for Brain Science, Brown University, Providence, RI 02912, USA. School of Engineering, Brown University, Providence, RI 02912, USA.
³ Brown Institute for Brain Science, Brown University, Providence, RI 02912, USA. Brown Institute for Brain Science, Brown University, Providence, RI 02912, USA.
⁴ Department of Neuroscience, Brown University, Providence, RI 02912, USA. Brown Institute for Brain Science, Brown University, Providence, RI 02912, USA.
⁵ Center for Neurorestoration and Neurotechnology, Rehabilitation R&D Service, Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Providence, RI 02908, USA. Brown Institute for Brain Science, Brown University, Providence, RI 02912, USA. School of Engineering, Brown University, Providence, RI 02912, USA. Department of Neurology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA 02114, USA.
⁶ Department of Neurology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA 02114, USA.
⁷ Department of Neurosurgery, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA.
⁸ Department of Neurosurgery, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA. Stanford Neurosciences Institute, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA. Department of Electrical Engineering, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA.
⁹ School of Engineering, Brown University, Providence, RI 02912, USA. Department of Neurosurgery, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA. Department of Electrical Engineering, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA.
¹⁰ Department of Neurology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA 02114, USA. Department of Neurology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA.
¹¹ Neurosurgery, Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA 02115, USA.
¹² Neurosurgery, Rhode Island Hospital, Providence, RI 02903, USA.
¹³ Department of Neurosurgery, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA. Stanford Neurosciences Institute, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA.
¹⁴ Stanford Neurosciences Institute, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA. Department of Electrical Engineering, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA. Department of Neurobiology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA. Department of Bioengineering, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA. Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA.
¹⁵ Center for Neurorestoration and Neurotechnology, Rehabilitation R&D Service, Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Providence, RI 02908, USA. Department of Neuroscience, Brown University, Providence, RI 02912, USA. Brown Institute for Brain Science, Brown University, Providence, RI 02912, USA. School of Engineering, Brown University, Providence, RI 02912, USA.
¹⁶ Center for Neurorestoration and Neurotechnology, Rehabilitation R&D Service, Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Providence, RI 02908, USA. Brown Institute for Brain Science, Brown University, Providence, RI 02912, USA. School of Engineering, Brown University, Providence, RI 02912, USA. Department of Neurology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA 02114, USA. Department of Neurology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA.

Abstract

Brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) promise to restore independence for people with severe motor disabilities by translating decoded neural activity directly into the control of a computer. However, recorded neural signals are not stationary (that is, can change over time), degrading the quality of decoding. Requiring users to pause what they are doing whenever signals change to perform decoder recalibration routines is time-consuming and impractical for everyday use of BCIs. We demonstrate that signal nonstationarity in an intracortical BCI can be mitigated automatically in software, enabling long periods (hours to days) of self-paced point-and-click typing by people with tetraplegia, without degradation in neural control. Three key innovations were included in our approach: tracking the statistics of the neural activity during self-timed pauses in neural control, velocity bias correction during neural control, and periodically recalibrating the decoder using data acquired during typing by mapping neural activity to movement intentions that are inferred retrospectively based on the user's self-selected targets. These methods, which can be extended to a variety of neurally controlled applications, advance the potential for intracortical BCIs to help restore independent communication and assistive device control for people with paralysis.

Publication types

Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.

MeSH terms

Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis / complications
Brain-Computer Interfaces*
Calibration
Female
Humans
Male
Motor Cortex / physiopathology
Quadriplegia / physiopathology*
Quadriplegia / rehabilitation*
Self-Help Devices*
Stroke / complications

Abstract

Publication types

MeSH terms

Grants and funding