Brain Computer Interfaces In Your Ear

We like to talk about wearables and their ability to track our health and inform us of important health messages. However, today’s wearables are likely just the very start of what will be possible in the future. Don’t believe me? Try this story from Nautilus:

A brain computer interface made of gold electrodes mounted on a plastic film that is flexible enough to be molded on to the inner ear and behind the ear could herald the next big thing in wearable tech. The interface works like a conventional EEG cap, reading the wearer’s brain signals, and stays on for up to two weeks—even in the shower. The interface was powerful enough to allow wearers to operate a text speller through thought, but at only five words every two minutes it isn’t as efficient as texting—yet.

This amounts to basically a small bandaid on your ear. That’s some powerful technology. If you’re getting lost in the five words every two minutes, don’t. This is just the foundational learning that’s required for us to make advancements in this process.

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve wished for the ability to think a blog post. Yes, I’ve typed over 4000 healthcare IT blog posts over the years. That number would probably be 8000 if it counted the number of times I’ve thought through a blog post. It would be perfect in a car when you’re mindlessly driving a route that you drive regularly.

If this doesn’t get you excited, you might want one of these to see if your brain is still working. This is cool stuff. Sure, there could be some unforeseen ramifications as well, but that’s true with any technology. I can’t wait to see what smart people come up with next.

About the author

John Lynn

John Lynn is the Founder of HealthcareScene.com, a network of leading Healthcare IT resources. The flagship blog, Healthcare IT Today, contains over 13,000 articles with over half of the articles written by John. These EMR and Healthcare IT related articles have been viewed over 20 million times.

John manages Healthcare IT Central, the leading career Health IT job board. He also organizes the first of its kind conference and community focused on healthcare marketing, Healthcare and IT Marketing Conference, and a healthcare IT conference, EXPO.health, focused on practical healthcare IT innovation. John is an advisor to multiple healthcare IT companies. John is highly involved in social media, and in addition to his blogs can be found on Twitter: @techguy.

   

Categories