Synchron's BCI implants may help paralyzed patients reconnect with the world<p>Dr. Tom Oxley visibly stiffens at the prospect of using brain-computer interface technology for something as gauche as augmenting able-bodied humans. “We're not building a BCI to control Spotify or to watch Netflix,” the CEO of medical device startup <a data-i13n="cpos:1;pos:1" href="
https://synchron.com/">Synchron[/url] tersely told Engadget via videocall last week.</p><p>“There's all this hype and excitement about BCI, about where it might go,” Oxley continued. “But the reality is, what's it gonna do for patients? We describe this problem for patients, not around wanting to super-augment their brain or body, but wanting to restore the fundamental agency and autonomy that [able-bodied people] take for granted.”</p><span id="end-legacy-contents"></span><p>Around 31,000 Americans currently live with <a data-i13n="cpos:2;pos:1" href="
https://www.cdc.gov/als/WhatisALS.html#:~:text=How%20many%20people%20have%20ALS,every%20year%20with%20this%20disease.">Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis[/url] (ALS) with another 5,000 diagnosed every year. Nearly 300,000 Americans suffer from spinal cord paralysis, and <a data-i13n="cpos:3;pos:1" href="
https://www.christopherreeve.org/todays-care/paralysis-help-overview/stats-about-paralysis/">another approximately 18,000 people join those ranks annually[/url]. Thousands more are paralyzed by stroke and accident, losing their ability to see, hear or <a data-i13n="cpos:4;pos:1" href="
https://www.engadget.com/ai-enabled-brain-implant-helps-patient-regain-feeling-and-movement-073711090.html">feel the world around them[/url]. And with the lack of motor control in their extremities, these Americans can also lose access to a critical component of modern life: their smartphone.</p><p>
Synchron's BCI implants may help paralyzed patients reconnect with the world
