Don’t put words in my mouth: speech perception can falsely activate a brain-computer interface
Abstract Background Recent studies have demonstrated that speech can be decoded from brain activity which in turn can be used for brain-computer interface (BCI)-based communication. It is however also known that the area often used as a signal source for speech decoding BCIs, the sensorimotor cortex...
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BMC
2025-08-01
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| Series: | Journal of NeuroEngineering and Rehabilitation |
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| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1186/s12984-025-01689-7 |
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| author | Anouck Schippers Mariska J. Vansteensel Zac V. Freudenburg Shiyu Luo Nathan E. Crone Nick F. Ramsey |
| author_facet | Anouck Schippers Mariska J. Vansteensel Zac V. Freudenburg Shiyu Luo Nathan E. Crone Nick F. Ramsey |
| author_sort | Anouck Schippers |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract Background Recent studies have demonstrated that speech can be decoded from brain activity which in turn can be used for brain-computer interface (BCI)-based communication. It is however also known that the area often used as a signal source for speech decoding BCIs, the sensorimotor cortex (SMC), is also engaged when people perceive speech, thus making speech perception a potential source of false positive activation of the BCI. The current study investigated if and how speech perception may interfere with reliable speech BCI control. Methods We recorded high-density electrocorticography (HD-ECoG) data from five subjects while they performed a speech perception and a speech production task. We first evaluated whether speech perception and production activated the SMC. Second, we trained a support-vector machine (SVM) on the speech production data (including rest). To test the occurrence of false positives, this decoder was then tested on speech perception data where every perception segment that was classified as a produced syllable rather than rest was considered a false positive. Finally, we investigated whether perceived speech could be distinguished from produced speech and rest. Results Our results show that both the perception and production of speech activate the SMC. In addition, we found that decoders that are highly reliable at detecting self-produced syllables from brain signals may generate false positive BCI activations during the perception of speech and that it is possible to distinguish perceived speech from produced speech and rest, with high accuracy. Conclusions We conclude that speech perception can interfere with reliable BCI control, and that efforts to limit the occurrence of false positives during daily-life BCI use should be implemented in BCI design to increase the likelihood of successful adoptation by end users. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-42d8f82e3d6947d88953ca0972b6bcf2 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 1743-0003 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-08-01 |
| publisher | BMC |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Journal of NeuroEngineering and Rehabilitation |
| spelling | doaj-art-42d8f82e3d6947d88953ca0972b6bcf22025-08-24T11:11:37ZengBMCJournal of NeuroEngineering and Rehabilitation1743-00032025-08-0122111210.1186/s12984-025-01689-7Don’t put words in my mouth: speech perception can falsely activate a brain-computer interfaceAnouck Schippers0Mariska J. Vansteensel1Zac V. Freudenburg2Shiyu Luo3Nathan E. Crone4Nick F. Ramsey5Department of Neurology and Neurosurgery, University Medical Center Utrecht Brain CenterDepartment of Neurology and Neurosurgery, University Medical Center Utrecht Brain CenterDepartment of Neurology and Neurosurgery, University Medical Center Utrecht Brain CenterDepartment of Biomedical Engineering, Johns Hopkins University School of MedicineDepartment of Neurology, Johns Hopkins University School of MedicineDepartment of Neurology and Neurosurgery, University Medical Center Utrecht Brain CenterAbstract Background Recent studies have demonstrated that speech can be decoded from brain activity which in turn can be used for brain-computer interface (BCI)-based communication. It is however also known that the area often used as a signal source for speech decoding BCIs, the sensorimotor cortex (SMC), is also engaged when people perceive speech, thus making speech perception a potential source of false positive activation of the BCI. The current study investigated if and how speech perception may interfere with reliable speech BCI control. Methods We recorded high-density electrocorticography (HD-ECoG) data from five subjects while they performed a speech perception and a speech production task. We first evaluated whether speech perception and production activated the SMC. Second, we trained a support-vector machine (SVM) on the speech production data (including rest). To test the occurrence of false positives, this decoder was then tested on speech perception data where every perception segment that was classified as a produced syllable rather than rest was considered a false positive. Finally, we investigated whether perceived speech could be distinguished from produced speech and rest. Results Our results show that both the perception and production of speech activate the SMC. In addition, we found that decoders that are highly reliable at detecting self-produced syllables from brain signals may generate false positive BCI activations during the perception of speech and that it is possible to distinguish perceived speech from produced speech and rest, with high accuracy. Conclusions We conclude that speech perception can interfere with reliable BCI control, and that efforts to limit the occurrence of false positives during daily-life BCI use should be implemented in BCI design to increase the likelihood of successful adoptation by end users.https://doi.org/10.1186/s12984-025-01689-7Speech decodingBrain-Computer interfaceNeuroprosthesisReliabilityCommunicationLocked-in syndrome |
| spellingShingle | Anouck Schippers Mariska J. Vansteensel Zac V. Freudenburg Shiyu Luo Nathan E. Crone Nick F. Ramsey Don’t put words in my mouth: speech perception can falsely activate a brain-computer interface Journal of NeuroEngineering and Rehabilitation Speech decoding Brain-Computer interface Neuroprosthesis Reliability Communication Locked-in syndrome |
| title | Don’t put words in my mouth: speech perception can falsely activate a brain-computer interface |
| title_full | Don’t put words in my mouth: speech perception can falsely activate a brain-computer interface |
| title_fullStr | Don’t put words in my mouth: speech perception can falsely activate a brain-computer interface |
| title_full_unstemmed | Don’t put words in my mouth: speech perception can falsely activate a brain-computer interface |
| title_short | Don’t put words in my mouth: speech perception can falsely activate a brain-computer interface |
| title_sort | don t put words in my mouth speech perception can falsely activate a brain computer interface |
| topic | Speech decoding Brain-Computer interface Neuroprosthesis Reliability Communication Locked-in syndrome |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1186/s12984-025-01689-7 |
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