Recently, Shenzhen, Guangdong is hosting the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area International Brain-Computer Interface Industry Innovation Conference, simultaneously launching the country's first Bright Brain Technology Week. At the conference, a set of brain-computer interfaces was successfully unveiled. It subverted our understanding of traditional brain-computer interfaces: it does not require craniotomy or implanted electrodes, and relies on ultrasound to "talk" to the brain.
This is the new generation of non-invasive ultrasound brain-computer interface technology developed by scientific research teams such as the Shenzhen Institute of Advanced Technology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. A 20-minute intervention three times a week for four weeks has the opportunity to awaken patients with chronic disorders of consciousness, what we often call "vegetative people."
Ultrasound targeted intervention in millimeter-level targets
Assisting in the recovery of encephalopathy
When it comes to brain-computer interfaces, our first reaction is often mind control, which helps people with disabilities control mechanical devices. However, the value of brain-computer interface goes far beyond "external control". Inward repair of neural function is its more imaginative direction. It can write precise control signals to the brain, and is expected to activate the brain's own neuroplasticity and re-establish damaged or dormant neural pathways. This domestically produced non-invasive ultrasound brain-computer interface technology has been used in intervention research for epilepsy, depression and other diseases.
In a preliminary clinical study in collaboration with Kunming Medical University, 13 of 24 subjects with chronic disorders of consciousness showed clear improvements in consciousness and behavior. One of the patients was in a coma for 3 months due to cerebral hemorrhage and was successfully awakened after 30 days of ultrasound treatment. After recovery, he was able to talk, eat independently, and walk with assistance.
Ultrasound is a sound wave with a higher frequency that is inaudible to the human ear. It has good directionality, strong penetrating power, and also has its own energy. B-ultrasound, sonar, cleaning and decontamination are all its specialties. If you want to use it to regulate the brain, you must first use magnetic resonance imaging to complete high-precision "mapping" of the brain, locate the areas in the brain that need intervention, and then focus the ultrasound on millimeter-level targets. Ultrasound waves can pass through the hard skull and converge at specific points deep in the brain. When ultrasonic energy acts on neurons, it can activate mechanosensitive ion channels on the cell membrane - it is like a switch for the electrical activity of neurons. By regulating this electrical switch, the firing speed of neurons can be adjusted.
For different brain diseases
Flexible “customized” intervention strategies
Epilepsy is an uncontrolled, high-frequency abnormal discharge of neurons in a local brain area, just like a continuous short-circuit in an electrical circuit. Ultrasound is used to suppress excessive excitement in this brain area;
Depression is caused by an imbalance in the brain's emotional regulation circuit, and ultrasound can regulate abnormal emotional circuits;
"Vegetative state" involves damage to the communication link between the thalamus and cerebral cortex, and the entire consciousness network falls into silence. Repeated rounds of gentle ultrasound intervention can promote the reconstruction of neural network functions, slowly restore communication to originally disconnected and sleeping neural networks, help the brain regain its ability to control the body, and also "wake up" consciousness little by little.
At present, the common routes of brain-computer interface are divided into three categories: invasive, semi-invasive and non-invasive. The new generation of non-invasive ultrasound brain-computer interface technology is a brand new technical path in the non-invasive direction. The story of brain-computer is not only about cool human-computer control, it can also help sleeping brains and injured nerves to reconnect with the world.
