After an accident at a lake eight years ago, Noland Arbaugh was left paralyzed from the shoulders down. This vastly impacted his daily life and forced him to hold off on his dreams, including traveling to France. In January of this year, Noland volunteered for the PRIME study at Elon Musk’s company, Neuralink. This study takes place at Barrow Neurological Institute in Phoenix, AZ, and it aims to prove the effectiveness of brain-computer interfaces (BCI) as a rehabilitation technique for patients who suffer from quadriplegia. BCIs are neural implants that allow patients to control computers and other communication devices with their thoughts. Arbough’s neural implant–or Link as it is referred to in this study–has allowed him to play chess, learn languages, and gain more independence than he thought he would ever have. With him being the first participant and first success, Neuralink hopes to expand this study even further and make this treatment more easily available to the public.
Arbough’s Link is a large step up from his previous digital interface. As reported on the Neuralink blog in this study, Noland was using “a mouth-held tablet stylus (mouth stick) that had to be put in place by a caregiver.” The mouth stick could only be used if Noland was sitting in the upright position, and he required assistance with the device, and prolonged use would cause, “discomfort, muscle fatigue, and pressure sores.” In addition, the mouth stick would prevent normal speech. He also needed assistance when watching videos or streaming, as the mouth stick was ineffective at navigating the internet. Now, with the Link, Noland no longer has to move his body in any way to control his computers and devices. The Link allows him to navigate the internet in any way he chooses all while holding a conversation. He enjoys playing chess online, as he can do it for hours at a time, even while lying in his bed, as he told Euro News.
BCIs are highly invasive and have been under scrutiny for their safety in neural rehabilitation since their inception. Devices implanted on the scalp, cortical surface, or within the brain directly capture electrical impulses from brain activity and translate them into commands whose signals are sent to computers and other devices. These have been effective in the past, but their risk of infection and brain tissue damage makes them a risky application.
Arbough recovered quickly from his surgery, but in the weeks following, a number of threads throughout his brain were detached, and many of the electrodes stopped working. This led to slower communication between the implant and his computer, preventing him from doing the things he loved. To rectify this, Neuralink’s team “modified the recording algorithm to be more sensitive to neural population signals, improved the techniques to translate these signals into cursor movements, and enhanced the user interface.” These changes created an even faster rate of data transfer than the initial implant, making the Link more efficient.
So far, Noland has been able to enjoy playing video games with his friends and learning both French and Japanese with easy access to the internet. The story of his success inspired a man named Alex to become the second volunteer for the PRIME study. Alex received his Link in July of this year and now has the capability to use computer-aided design (CAD) software to create 3-D models on his computer. Neuralink’s research team learned more about their device’s capabilities and limitations through this volunteer, as he performs more demanding tasks than Noland. As they work to improve their device and learn more about BCIs’ place in the medical world, hopes remain high that these types of devices will become widely marketed and millions of quadriplegic people’s lives will be changed for the better.
