Elon Musk's Neuralink plans brain implant trial for speech impairments

(Reuters) - Billionaire Elon Musk’s brain-implant company Neuralink plans to launch a trial in October aimed at helping people with speech impairments translate their thoughts into text, the company’s president said.

Dongjin “D.J.” Seo told an audience at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology in Seoul this week that the study targets people who have lost the ability to speak, enabling them "to go directly from brain to voice without any keyboards in between."

"If you're imagining saying something, we would be able to pick that up," he said.

Neuralink said the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has granted the device a Breakthrough Device designation for speech, a status that can expedite development, assessment and review.

Neuralink did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The company began human trials in 2024 after addressing safety concerns raised by the FDA, which had rejected an earlier application in 2022.

Last month, Neuralink said 12 people worldwide have received its chip, logging more than 15,000 hours of use.

Neuralink’s implant is designed to help people with conditions such as spinal cord injury. The first patient has used it to play video games, browse the internet, post on social media and move a cursor on a laptop.

Rival Synchron Inc is also testing an implant to help people with motor impairment type on a computer.

(Reporting by Christy Santhosh in Bengaluru; Editing by Tasim Zahid)

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