Âé¶¹´«Ã½

Health

Tune in your head? Mind-reading tech can guess how it sounds

By Helen Thomson

16 April 2018

A woman playing the piano

We now understand how the brain handles real and imagined sounds differently

plainpicture/Westend61/Marco Govel

We now have the ability to hear another person’s thoughts. Researchers have identified the differences in brain activity linked to heard and imagined sounds, a finding that could lead to better communication devices for people who are fully paralysed.

In 2014,  at the University of California, Berkeley, and his colleagues eavesdropped on a person’s internal monologue for the first time. They got several people who had electrodes implanted in their brain to read text out loud while having their brain activity recorded.…

Sign up to our weekly newsletter

Receive a weekly dose of discovery in your inbox. We'll also keep you up to date with Âé¶¹´«Ã½ events and special offers.

Sign up

To continue reading, today with our introductory offers

or

Existing subscribers

Sign in to your account
Piano Exit Overlay Banner Mobile Piano Exit Overlay Banner Desktop