1. Mind Controlled Prosthetics
Humans have been using prosthesis for generations. The first known prosthesis dates back to Egypt, about 950-710 BCE. It was a toe made of wood. In more contemporary times, prosthetics have made some advancements to become more realistic appearing, and even useful.
The most spectacular of these prostheses are the ones that depend on nerve impulses in the tissue the prosthesis is linked to. They are able to read signals that the brain would be sending to the natural limb and enable the prosthesis to play them out. Effectively, these are mind driven devices that can transform nerve impulses into movement like a genuine appendage would.There have been prostheses in the past that get impulses straight from the brains of the limbless to assist control them. And there have even been ones that adhere to the nerve terminals in the dismembered limbs. But a team from the University of Michigan has devised a cutting edge technology that allows the recipients control at a level virtually comparable to having a functional limb. They employ muscle grafts to link the prosthesis to the body. The grafts enable the nerves to attach to live tissue anew. This implies fine motor control is significantly stronger than with earlier procedures, and also less intrusive and risky compared to brain surgery.
Those who have used prosthetic hands made this manner can effortlessly handle spherical items, move their thumbs in a whole range rather than merely one position or another, and even play Rock, Paper, Scissors.
2. Earswitch
One of the things that everyone recalls about Stephen Hawking was how he communicated. Hawking suffered from ALS, which made him virtually entirely immobile. He was able to manage a computer interface to let him communicate, which relied on minor muscle movements in his cheek to control the computer, which would subsequently express his ideas. The same principle underlying that technology is progressing even today with an eye, or rather an ear, toward assisting other individuals with neurological problems.
The Earswitch is a gadget that is placed within your ear. Rather than Hawking’s approach, which employs the motions of cheek muscles, Earswitch depends on a very little muscle within your ear to enable it to work.
Even those with significant muscular degeneration may still control something called the tympani muscle in the ear. A tiny camera connected to an earpiece analyses the muscle for movement and communicates with a computer, enabling users to scan through letters on a keyboard and “click” when they have what they want. This enables that a patient who has lost practically all muscular control may still converse with others.
3. Artificial Larynx
One impairment that is sometimes neglected owing to its relative rarity is the loss of the capacity to speak. Losing one’s eyesight or hearing is something we’re lot more acquainted with, but it’s not unheard of for someone to suffer major damage to their larynx and no longer have the capacity to communicate.
People with this illness have traditionally had a variety of non-verbal ways of communicating at their disposal. Writing is, of course, an obvious alternative, as is learning American Sign Language. But Syrinx is a modern technology that may give voice back to folks who may have lost it as a consequence of physical damage or something like disease.
Syrinx is simply a wearable speech box. You may have seen folks in the past using something called an electrolarynx, a gadget that a user needs to hold up and push against their throat if they desire to talk. The portable gadget generates a robotic voice and has limitations. It can never be utilised if you’re doing something that takes two hands, for instance. The design also never truly advanced beyond its original generation, so its tinny, artificial voice was never improved upon.
Syrinx is wearable, which may free up hands for driving or typing. A user may even upload a sample of their voice from before they lost it to assist the gadget duplicate it. It vibrates the neck similar to the way the natural larynx would, generating a spectrum of frequencies better equipped to mimic normal-sounding speech and voice.
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