Japanese companies have developed a device that allows patients suffering from severe muscular paralysis to communicate “yes” or “no” by measuring blood flows in their brains. The product, called “Kokoro-gatari” (Mind-talk), was developed jointly by electronics giant Hitachi, Excel of Mechatronix Corp, and Japan ALS Association for patients in the severest stage of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis.ALS is a disease of motor neurons -- muscle-controlling nerve cells -- and ultimately affects all voluntary muscles, making patients incapable of even the slightest movements such as blinking.But the companies have made use of one function the patients can control -- blood flows in their brains. Although sufferers ultimately lose the power to move and speak, they continue to think normally.With the new device a patient wears a headband that emits near-infrared rays to measure the flow of blood.If a patient wants to say “yes” to a question, he or she can activate the brain by calculating or singing a song mentally, which cause blood to gather in the frontal lobe.The device would then detect the increased blood flow. When patients want to say “no”, they would just stay relaxed to keep the flow unchanged.An answer, about 80 percent correct by an average, would come in 36 seconds.The project started with a telephone call to Hitachi in 1999 by a man who was taking care of his wife in an advanced stage of ALS, according to a director of the ALS Association.
