Paralyzed Patients "Speak" With Their Pupils 72
sciencehabit writes "Lying in bed, unable to move a muscle, so-called locked-in patients have few ways to communicate with the outside world. But researchers have now found a way to use the widening and narrowing of the pupils to send a message, potentially helping these patients break the silence. The trick is a webcam-like setup that tracks pupil dilation. When people focus on a hard problem--say a math problem--their pupils dilate. Employing the approach, some locked-in patients could answer 'yes' and 'no' questions just by dilating their eyes."
Why bother with pupil dilation? (Score:3, Interesting)
Why don't they go straight to neurofeedback? The hardware is getting a lot less expensive.
Euthanasia Please (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Facilitated Communication Hoax (Score:4, Interesting)
Can you expand on your experience with this technique? How did it work in your late wife's case? What was the latency of the communication like due to the obvious bandwidth constraints of this particular medium?