ABSTRACT
Brain–computer interface (BCI) technology has recently been extended to help patients with disorders of consciousness (DOC) and stroke. These two promising new directions focus on new patient groups and new applications for these groups. First, patients diagnosed with a DOC might benefit from new BCI-based systems that can help assess (or reassess) their consciousness, allow communication and even outcome prediction, and guide rehabilitation. Second, patients with motor disabilities resulting from stroke might use BCIs to facilitate rehabilitation to recover lost motor functions more quickly and completely than conventional therapy alone. Both of these directions have advanced well beyond the initial proof-of-concept stage, with dozens of publications from numerous different groups that validate methods and devices with patient groups in real-world settings. However, broader studies with patients are still needed. We briefly review these two new directions, describe the mindBEAGLE and recoveriX systems that are based on them, and present examples of results from real-world applications with patients.
