Locked In No More

A recent article published in Time tells a harrowing story of a comatose 43-year-old Belgian man who suffered a brain injury in a car accident 23 years ago. Most believed him to be in a vegetative state, assumed by medical professionals to be brain dead. But three years ago, a neurologist who specializes in such cases at the University of Liege in Belgium performed a new series of clinical and imaging tests and determined him to be, in fact, very much alive.

The patient’s voluntary muscles were for the most part completely paralyzed, yet his brain continued to function normally. This terrible condition, termed “locked-in syndrome,” rendered the man entirely unable to move or communicate with the outside world, completely trapped in his own thoughts, emotions, and physiological brain activity.

Over the past three years, the man has slowly learned to communicate through a computer as a language therapist traces his finger over a keypad. When his finger passes over a desired letter, he is able to slightly contract the muscle in his finger, indicating to his therapist the desired letter. He now plans to write a book using this process.

This brings to mind another story of a man with “locked-in syndrome.” Jean-Dominique Bauby, the former editor of the French fashion magazine ELLE. Mr Bauby suffered a massive stroke at the age of 43, and spent the next 20 days in a coma. When he finally awoke, he was left entirely speechless and immobile, except for his left eyelid, which he was able to blink.

Using a card depicting a uniquely ordered alphabet based on frequency of letters in the French language, Bauby’s therapist read to him and wrote down his chosen letter when he blinked his left eye, signaling for the letter he selected. Bauby, despite his condition, completed the book The Diving Bell and the Butterfly by blinking for each letter written. He managed to finish the book and died in 1997, two days after it’s publication.

As we know, eye tracking technology has medical applications that would have come in handy with these two victims of “locked-in syndrome.” Given the ability to communicate, people with various conditions might use eye tracking to write a book, operate a computer, and communicate with loved ones. With eye-tracking, perhaps, victims of unfortunate conditions like these and others can finally express their feelings, thoughts, and emotions with the rest of the world – as they were once able to do before.

Related articles:

1. Eye Tracking Exploring How You Perceive Written Words
2. No More Highlighters: Using Eye Tracking to Create Document Summaries
3. Eye Tracking and the Architecture of Grammar
4. Eye Tracking Research Measures Effectiveness of Super Bowl Ads
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6. Kicking the Habit: Research Uses Pupil Tracking to Show Exercise May Reduce Cigarette Cravings
7. Eye Tracking Exploring the Gaze Attention of Autistic Children
8. Fixations and Saccades in Eye Tracking
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