From: Rob Kall (smile_at_compuserve.com)
Date: 2001-06-14 16:58:07
This is nothing new. Niels Birbaumer uses slow cortical potentials, which
do not even require eye-blinks, for people with amyotrophic lateral
sclerosis.
Back around 1985 I developed a system using an off-the shelf switching
relay from another biofeedbback manufacturer to enable or disable a
joystick on a video game.
Others are using switching relays so people can watch a video movie only
when the threshold criteria are met.
There's also a US company that's been around for several years with a mind
switch approach, as well as the IBVA Mac system, which has been around at
least ten years.
You wrote:
UTS-developed Mind Switch technology, which allows people to operate
electrical equipment with the blink of an eye, is being showcased at
London’s Science Museum.
Professor Ashley Craig, Associate Professor Les Kirkup and Dr Yvonne Tran
from the Faculty of Science are in London to demonstrate the Mind Switch as
part of the museum’s Brain Awareness Week activities.
Professor Craig said the London invitation was a special honour for the UTS
researchers and indicated the international recognition the Mind Switch
work has achieved.
The Mind Switch allows people to activate and control electrical devices
simply by closing their eyes. The key is a burst of alpha brainwaves
emitted as the eyes are closed, which the UTS researchers found could be
distinguished from other brain activity and isolated.
The UTS researchers, who are working towards commercialisation of the
technology, have recently completed successful trials of the Mind Switch
with 10 severely disabled people.
Professor Craig said the latest prototype of the Mind Switch Environmental
Control Unit, or ECU, had been 90 per cent reliable in the trials, which
were conducted in the homes of people who have suffered quadriplegia
through accident or disease.
"We asked participants to use the ECU to control their television: turn it
on and off, change channels and adjust the volume," Professor Craig said.
"Most could activate the switch in one to three seconds more than 90 per
cent of the time."
Rob Kall
Futurehealth, Inc.
211 N. Sycamore St., Newtown, PA 18940 215-504-1700, fax 215-860-5374
www.futurehealth.org
10th annual Winter Brain Meeting February 7-11, Miami Florida
"We're much more like flickering flames than hunks of meat."
Candace Pert
BioFbP Listserve. The Listserve For BIofeedback Practitioners.
Subscribe: biofbp-subscribe_at_yahoogroups.com
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.4 : 2002-07-27 12:28:31 BST