The 30-year-old quadriplegic man who chose to become the first human to receive Elon Musk’s Neuralink brain implant chip called ‘The Link’ has revealed how the pioneering technology changed his life.
Noland Arbaugh, who became paralyzed from the shoulders down after suffering a spinal cord injury following what he describes as a freak accident after jumping into an artificial lake, has become the first human participant in the clinical trial of Neuralink in January, eight years after his accident.
In an exclusive interview with Will Reeve of “Good Morning America,” Arbaugh said the device gave him the ability to have almost complete control over using a computer – using only his thoughts.
The device, which is approximately the size of a coin, is implanted under the skull and uses 64 tiny leads, or wires, fitted with more than 1,000 electrodes capable of reading the activity of neurons in the brain and connect to a computer or smartphone, depending on the company.
“I can control a computer like anyone else, which I wasn’t able to do before,” Arbaugh said.
Arbaugh said he was not worried about enrolling in the first phase of the clinical trial because by participating in the forefront of scientific research, he is helping pave the way for improving the lives of paralyzed people like him.
“I knew if I did this, it would eliminate a lot of headache and heartache for the people around me,” he said.
Despite great progress since the procedure, technological problems almost led the company to remove the device from his brain.
Arbaugh said that after some wires came loose from his brain, performance issues arose with the device.
Fearful of losing the improvements the device brought to his life, Arbaugh said he became emotional.
“It was very, very hard to give up all the amazing things that I was capable of doing,” Arbaugh said, adding, “I think I cried afterwards.”
However, Neuralink was able to make changes to the technology and improve Arbaugh’s connection, according to Neuralink co-founder DJ Seo.
“We rolled up our sleeves and found different ways for Nolan to get his performance back,” SEO said in the “Good Morning America” interview. “Since then, he has been able to do better than he was able to do before.”
In a company blog post, Neuralink explained the changes to the device.
“We modified the recording algorithm to be more sensitive to signals from the neuronal population, improved the techniques for translating these signals into cursor movements, and improved the user interface,” Neurolink wrote on May 8 .
Looking to the future, Arbaugh hopes that a day will come when spinal cord injuries are no longer completely debilitating, saying, “I don’t think it’s as far away as people might think.”
“It’s going to be amazing when someone can have a spinal cord injury, go to the hospital, have surgery and come out a few days later,” Arbaugh said, adding, “I think it’s going to happen. “
Neuralink was founded in 2016 by Musk and a team of scientists and engineers. The company says its mission is to “create a widespread brain interface to restore autonomy to people with unmet medical needs,” according to its website.
EDITOR’S NOTE: This story has been updated to better reflect the circumstances of Noland’s accident.
News Source : abcnews.go.com
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