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Personalized brain computer interfaces for decoding language

Award Number: R01DC023940
ORGANIZATION: NATIONAL INSTITUTE ON DEAFNESS AND OTHER COMMUNICATION DISORDERS
OPDIV: NIH
AWARD CLASS: DISCRETIONARY
AWARD ACTIVITY TYPE: SCIENTIFIC/HEALTH RESEARCH (INCLUDES SURVEYS)
PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE START DATE: 08/25/2026
PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE END DATE: 07/31/2031

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Personalized brain computer interfaces for decoding language - Aphasia (impaired language) afflicts millions of people worldwide. While some people with aphasia from stroke can recover some function, many are left with very limited communication abilities, which greatly reduces quality of life. Brain computer interfaces (BCIs) have recently shown promising ability to restore communication to people with anarthria (inability to speak due to paralysis), which afflicts a tiny population. The long-term goal of this research is to develop BCIs that can decode intended spoken language in people with predominantly nonfluent (Broca’s) aphasia, a much bigger population. However, nearly all speech BCIs to date have decoded signals from the frontal lobe, which is nearly always damaged in people with nonfluent aphasia. Further, there is considerable variation in aphasia phenotypes (even within Broca’s aphasia), in terms of the steps of linguistic processing that are broken. There is also a lack of consensus on methods to identify locations for BCI implants that enable the highest decoding accuracy. Thus, it is important to determine 1) for a given linguistic impairment phenotype, what cortices are likely to be preserved from which we can decode and 2) what we can decode from these areas. These steps will enable us to personalize a BCI device to each individual’s deficits and lesions for precision BCI design. The objectives of this proposal are to determine which remaining cortices are still active in common Broca’s aphasia phenotypes, to assess what level of linguistics we can decode from these areas, and to develop methods to improve targeting of implant locations. We hypothesize that we will be able to decode phonemes and semantics from temporal and parietal cortices. Aim 1 will identify spatiotemporal encoding of language in common aphasia phenotypes. Aim 2 will investigate the ability to decode phonemes and lexico- semantics from different regions in temporal and parietal cortices. Aim 3 will develop personalized methods to help optimize BCI implant locations using network neuroscience techniques. This proposal is innovative in its goal of characterizing the neural encoding of remaining language function in people with different aphasia phenotypes using magnetoencephalography, its characterization of specific language information in specific brain areas, and its use of functional brain mapping to optimize targeting for implants. Achieving our goals will be significant because it will improve the design of precision BCIs for language, which will help people with aphasia and apraxia of speech. We expect precision BCI targeting will also improve speech BCI performance and thus help people with anarthria or other neurologic disorders. Finally, we expect to advance our understanding of the brain’s encoding of language.


Issue Date FY	Funding FY	Legal Entity Name	Legal Entity Address	Legal Entity City	Legal Entity State	Legal Entity Zip Code	Legal Entity COUNTY	Legal Entity COUNTRY	Assistance Listing	Award Code	Budget Year	Action Date	Action Type	Action Amount

Issue Date FY: 2027 ( Subtotal = $0 )
2027	2026	NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY	633 CLARK ST	EVANSTON	IL	60208	COOK	USA	Research Related to Deafness and Communication Disorders	000	1	10/28/2026	NEW	$0
														Subtotal = $0

Issue Date FY: 2026 ( Subtotal = $690,331 )
2026	2026	NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY	633 CLARK ST	EVANSTON	IL	60208	COOK	USA	Research Related to Deafness and Communication Disorders	000	1	8/27/2026	NEW	$690,331
														Subtotal = $690,331

Grand Total All Awards = $690,331

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Personalized brain computer interfaces for decoding language

Award Number: R01DC023940

ORGANIZATION: NATIONAL INSTITUTE ON DEAFNESS AND OTHER COMMUNICATION DISORDERS

OPDIV: NIH

AWARD CLASS: DISCRETIONARY

AWARD ACTIVITY TYPE: SCIENTIFIC/HEALTH RESEARCH (INCLUDES SURVEYS)

PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE START DATE: 08/25/2026

PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE END DATE: 07/31/2031

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