Here’s how it works: Patients have an array of sensors, called a Stentrode, implanted in their brains. The Stentrode is controlled wirelessly with a device on the patient’s chest called a Synchron Switch.
One of six patients using the device, Gorham is the first to use it to interact with an Apple product.
Tom Oxley, Synchron’s CEO, told Albergotti that the company is excited about the ability to use the Switch with Apple products because they’re so pervasive.
Synchron is the “first company to gain approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to run clinical trials on a computer-brain implant,” Albergotti noted, adding: “In essence, if the FDA approves the device for widespread use, Oxley believes computer-brain implants his company makes could become ubiquitous among people with disabilities.”