Neuralink said a 72-hour sprint with a participant in its VOICE speech-restoration study produced prototypes for communication through intended speech, extending the company’s brain-computer work beyond cursor control.
The company said the project, announced Oct. 29, included software to detect when a user intends to speak without pressing a button. Developers also made visualizations of neural activity and a prototype that could activate a Grok agent after an intended “Hey Neuralink” command and a task. Neuralink described Bloom, a mobile speech app, and an iPhone integration that routes brain-computer interface (BCI)-generated speech into a call’s microphone stream.
Neuralink’s VOICE page says its first participant received an implant in January 2024, and multiple participants with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and spinal cord injury have since received one. The page describes the N1 implant as investigational and designed to help people with severe speech impairment turn verbal thoughts into text or speech. The hackathon announcement did not name its participant or give a diagnosis.
The speech-restoration work is separate from Neuralink’s device-control study. On its Telepathy page, the company says participants generally imagine hand movements to move a cursor and perform three mouse-like clicks. Neuralink also says phone control remains in development and is not available to all participants.
In a separate Oct. 28 post, Neuralink reported that one participant with ALS achieved 75 words per minute during the first week, with a 5.8% word error rate on a 125,000-word vocabulary. The company did not provide testing details in that post.
Neuralink has also described Blindsight, a separate visual-prosthesis concept that would use a camera and implant to activate brain areas involved in vision. The company announced in September 2024 that Blindsight received Breakthrough Device Designation from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The FDA says the designation can speed development and review, while devices still must meet its safety and effectiveness standards for marketing authorization. Neuralink points to future U.S. clinical trials for Blindsight but gives no date.
