Ideas worth spreading

A brain implant that turns your thoughts into text

1,867,407 views |

Tom Oxley |

TED2022

• April 2022

What if you could control digital devices using just the power of thought? That's the incredible promise behind the Stentrode -- an implantable brain-computer interface that collects and wirelessly transmits information directly from the brain, without the need for open surgery. Neurotech entrepreneur Tom Oxley describes the intricacies of this breakthrough technology, which is currently enrolling participants in human trials, as well as how it could help restore dignity to those with disabilities -- and transform the future of communication.

What if you could control digital devices using just the power of thought? That's the incredible promise behind the Stentrode -- an implantable brain-computer interface that collects and wirelessly transmits information directly from the brain, without the need for open surgery. Neurotech entrepreneur Tom Oxley describes the intricacies of this breakthrough technology, which is currently enrolling participants in human trials, as well as how it could help restore dignity to those with disabilities -- and transform the future of communication.

This talk was presented at an official TED conference. TED's editors chose to feature it for you.

Join Synchron to help patients reclaim their lives.

Visit Synchron's website for more information about the future of brain-computer interface technology.

Visit Tom Oxley's website.

About the speaker

Tom Oxley

Neurotech entrepreneur

See speaker profile

Tom Oxley is a brain-computer interface specialist and the founder and CEO of Synchron, a neural interface technology company.

Leigh R. Hochberg, Mijail D. Serruya et al. | Nature, 2006 | Article

"Neuronal ensemble control of prosthetic devices by a human with tetraplegia"

Breakthrough report of the first human implant of an invasive brain-computer interface

Kai J. Miller, Eric C. Leuthardt et al. | JNeurosci, 2007 | Article

"Spectral Changes in Cortical Surface Potentials during Motor Movement"

One of my favorite papers of all time, presenting data simply and beautifully, informing the basis of our algorithm design and representing the underlying mechanism of consciousness itself - synchronization. Why I chose Synchron to be the company name.

Steven Strogatz | Gardners Books, 2004 | Book

Sync: The Emerging Science of Spontaneous Order

The tendency to synchronize may be the most mysterious and pervasive drive in all of nature.

Thomas J. Oxley, Nicholas L. Opie et al. | Nature Biotechnology, 2016 | Article

"Minimally invasive endovascular stent-electrode array for high-fidelity, chronic recordings of cortical neural activity"

Synchron proved that ECoG signal could be recorded from inside a blood vessel in a brain in sheep model, using a catheter delivery and no open brain surgery.

Nicholas L. Opie, Sam E. John et al. | Nature Biomedical Engineering, 2018 | Article

"Focal stimulation of the sheep motor cortex with a chronically implanted minimally invasive electrode array mounted on an endovascular stent"

Synchron demonstrated the first stimulation of localized regions of brain tissue from inside a blood vessel in an animal brain (sheep).

Gopala K. Anumanchipalli, Josh Chartier and Edward F. Chang | Nature, 2019 | Article

"Speech synthesis from neural decoding of spoken sentences"

Eddie Chang’s group from UCSF demonstrate that surface ECoG recordings can decode the muscles of the vocal cord and mouth with such fidelity that they can predict the formation of sounds and words using only the control signal from motor cortex.

Thomas J. Oxley, Peter E. Yoo et al. | Journal of NeuroInterventional Surgery, 2020 | Article

"Motor neuroprosthesis implanted with neurointerventional surgery improves capacity for activities of daily living tasks in severe paralysis: first in-human experience "

First commercial, minimally-invasive, wireless device implanted and used by 2 humans with ECoG control of Windows 10 to achieve texting

This talk was presented at an official TED conference. TED's editors chose to feature it for you.

Join Synchron to help patients reclaim their lives.

Visit Synchron's website for more information about the future of brain-computer interface technology.

Visit Tom Oxley's website.