Abstract
Brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) may potentially be of significant practical value
to patients in advanced stages of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and locked-in syndrome
for whom conventional augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) systems, which
require some measure of consistent voluntary muscle control, are not satisfactory
options. However, BCIs have primarily been used for communication in laboratory research
settings. This article discusses 4 critical issues that should be addressed as BCIs
are translated out of laboratory settings to become fully functional BCI/AAC systems
that may be implemented clinically. These issues include (1) identification of primary,
secondary, and tertiary system features; (2) integrating BCI/AAC systems in the World
Health Organization's International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health framework; (3) implementing language-based assessment and intervention; and (4) performance
measurement. A clinical demonstration project is presented as an example of research
beginning to address these critical issues.
Keywords
List of abbreviations:
AAC (augmentative and alternative communication), ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis), BCI (brain-computer interface), ICF (International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health)To read this article in full you will need to make a payment
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Article info
Footnotes
Presented to the National Institutes of Health, National Science Foundation, and other organizations (for a full list, see http://bcimeeting.org/2013/sponsors.html), June 3-7, 2013, Asilomar Conference Grounds, Pacific Grove, CA.
Supported in part by the National Institutes of Health (grant no. R123-DE-01274401). The BCI study used as an example in this article was the VA CSP #567 project, funded by the VA Cooperative Studies Program, Department of Veterans Affairs Office of Research and Development. Specific values are reported by the Pittsburgh VAMC Laboratory.
Disclosures: none.
Identification
Copyright
© 2015 American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
