Article · AI translation
IT Home reported on October 30, citing CCTV News, that the International Brain-Computer Interface Industry Innovation Conference for the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area is being held in Shenzhen, Guangdong, alongside the launch of the country's first Guangming Brain Science and Technology Week. At the conference, a new generation of noninvasive ultrasound brain-computer interface technology developed by research teams including the Shenzhen Institute of Advanced Technology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences was unveiled.
It overturns our understanding of traditional brain-computer interfaces: no opening of the skull or implantation of electrodes is needed; instead, it uses ultrasound to “talk” to the brain. With this technology, an intervention lasting 20 minutes each time, 3 times a week for 4 weeks, offers a chance to awaken patients with chronic disorders of consciousness, commonly referred to as being in a “vegetative state.”
The report notes that the value of brain-computer interfaces extends far beyond “controlling things externally”; repairing neural function from within is an even more promising direction. They can write precise regulatory signals into the brain and may activate the brain's own neuroplasticity, rebuilding damaged or dormant neural pathways.
According to IT Home, this domestically developed noninvasive ultrasound brain-computer interface technology is currently being used in intervention studies for conditions including epilepsy and depression.
In a preliminary clinical study conducted with Kunming Medical University, 13 of 24 participants with chronic disorders of consciousness showed clear improvements in conscious behavior. One patient had been in a coma for 3 months following a brain hemorrhage and was successfully awakened after 30 days of ultrasound treatment. Following rehabilitation, the patient can now converse, eat independently and walk with assistance.
The technology can also flexibly “customize” intervention strategies for different brain disorders.
Epilepsy involves uncontrolled, high-frequency abnormal firing of neurons in a localized brain region, like a circuit that keeps shorting out; ultrasound is used to suppress excessive excitation in that region;
Depression involves dysfunction in the brain's emotion-regulation circuits; ultrasound can modulate the abnormal emotional circuits;
A “vegetative state” involves damage to the communication pathways between the thalamus and the cerebral cortex, leaving the entire consciousness network dormant. Repeated rounds of gentle ultrasound intervention can promote the rebuilding of neural network function, gradually restoring communication among neural networks that had been disconnected and dormant, helping the brain regain control over the body and allowing consciousness to gradually “awaken.”
It is understood that current brain-computer interfaces generally fall into 3 categories: invasive, semi-invasive and noninvasive. The new generation of noninvasive ultrasound brain-computer interface technology represents an entirely new technical approach within the noninvasive category.