A middle-aged woman with progressive motor neuron disease in Michigan has been able to produce words, respond to open-ended questions, and communicate with her family through an experimental brain-computer interface using her brain activity. This technology has been introduced by the neurotechnology company Paradromics.
Details of the Connexus Technology
This woman, who is in her sixties, is the first participant to receive the Connexus brain-computer interface from the company as part of the early feasibility study Connect-One. Unlike previous exercises where participants reproduced sentences selected by researchers, this woman was able to decide what she wanted to say. The system decoded the neural activities related to her intended speech and converted it into text and synthesized voice in real time.
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Connecting with Grandchildren and Positive Emotions
When the free speech function was activated, the first sentence she independently chose was: "I have so much to say." Paradromics announced that this sentence was decoded without error. During the same session, she used the device to talk to her grandchildren in a live phone call, asking them questions and providing answers through the voice generated by the system.
The founder and CEO of Paradromics, Matt Angle, stated, "She determines what she wants to say, and the system allows her to express it."
This woman suffers from severe dysarthria, a condition that makes speech difficult, but she still has a limited ability to speak. Her husband can usually understand her, while communicating with others has become increasingly difficult.
Dr. Matthew Wills, a neurosurgeon at the University of Michigan, asked her what advice she would give to someone considering an implant and surgery. She responded through the device: "Don't be afraid. It's an amazing experience that can help others."
Paradromics announced that every word she intended to say was accurately decoded. Wills regarded this result as a significant advancement in efforts to enable individuals with conditions affecting speech.
The Connexus system includes 421 microelectrodes that record the activities of individual neurons. Signals are transmitted to a small transceiver implanted in the participant's chest and sent through healthy skin to an external receiver and computer.
Researchers are examining changes in the participant's neural activity while she listens to language, prepares to speak, attempts to speak, and internally produces language. Paradromics has identified various patterns associated with speech attempts and imagined speech.
These findings do not indicate that the device can passively read unwanted thoughts, but rather relate to language that the participant has intentionally produced during structured research tasks.
This woman received the Connexus implant at the University of Michigan Health in June of this year. She will be monitored for six years to allow researchers to assess the long-term safety, durability, and the device's ability to restore communication and enable computer control.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration granted Paradromics a research permit for this study in November 2025. This permit allows the experimental device to be studied in humans but does not mean approval for public or commercial use.
This trial is being conducted at the University of Michigan Health, the University of Davis, and the Brigham and Women's Hospital Neuroscience Institute. Since the result comes from the first participant in this study, the findings remain preliminary.
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