Paralysed patients who have lost the power of speech could regain it with the help of brain implants, research has suggested.

Scientists in the United States have used electrodes implanted into the brain’s speech centre to “read” the thoughts of a “locked-in” patient who cannot speak, raising the prospect of translating them into an electronic voice like that of Professor Stephen Hawking.

Eric Ramsey, 27, who lost the ability to speak when he was paralysed in a car accident eight years ago, has become the first patient to receive the implants, which record the signals generated from 41 neurons in the area of the brain that governs speech. Mr Ramsey, who can communicate only through eye movements, despite being fully aware, has been asked to concentrate on imagining the vowel sounds “oh”, “ee” and “oo” while scientists examine the patterns of activity that the electrodes record.

The researchers, led by Jonathan Brumberg, of Boston University, believe that they can identify correctly the sound that he is imagining 80 per cent of the time. Dr Brumberg, who presented the results at the Society for Neuroscience conference in San Diego, said that the team was about to begin translating these thoughts into synthesised sounds through a computer. Mr Ramsey will then be able to provide direct feedback on whether the sound is correct, allowing him to tune the system for accuracy. The ultimate aim is to enable him to speak through the computer, purely by thinking of the sounds he wishes to say.

“That will be really exciting,” Joe Wright, of Neural Signals, a company involved in the research, told New Scientist magazine. “We hope it will be a breakthrough.” Once the three vowel sounds have been fine-tuned, the team aims to move on to other vowels and consonants. Mr Wright said, however, that the system was still a long way from being refined to the point at which Mr Ramsey could use it to communicate reliably. “Conversation is what we’re hoping for, but we’re pretty far from that,” he said.

The technology is the latest to use recordings from electrodes implanted in the brain in an attempt to restore physical functions to paralysed people.

In this case, the electrodes take readings from the neurons that normally generate movement in the tongue and mouth during speech.

In similar experiments, a team led by John Donoghue, of Brown University, Rhode Island, has developed a set of implants that have allowed quadriplegic patients to move a cursor around a computer screen using thought alone.

The BrainGate technology has enabled Matt Nagle, 26, to learn, in nine months, to move a cursor, open e-mails, play computer games and move a robotic arm. In the long term, it may be possible to combine the technology with prosthetic limbs or devices that stimulate muscle contractions in a patient’s arms and legs, restoring a degree of movement.

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