一项研究说，重度残疾人可以通过“嗅”的方式书写文本并驾驶电动轮椅。Noam Sobel及其同事推测，从四肢瘫痪到“闭锁综合征”（完全瘫痪但是意识不受影响）的残疾人可能有能力准确地嗅。嗅的动作需要软腭的准确运动，后者从常常不受致瘫外伤和疾病影响的颅神经那里接受信号。这组科学家制造了一种“嗅控制器”，它测量软骨复位的时候鼻压力发生的变化，然后在健康人和残疾人受试者身上测试了这种接口设备。这组作者报告说，健康人可以像用鼠标或游戏手柄一样灵活地使用这种装置玩计算机游戏， 而且可以操纵鼻控电动轮椅走过一个115英尺的复杂路径。这组作者说，四肢瘫痪的受试者可以使用计算机写字，而且可以像健康受试者那样操纵电动轮椅。这组作者还说，最有前景的是闭锁综合征患者可以使用这种装置写字，这包括让一位女性在7个月以来首次与其他人交流，还让另一位患者在10年以来首次写字。
论文 #10-06746: "Sniffing enables communication and environmental control for the severely disabled," 作者 Anton Plotkin等人
利益冲突报告：魏茨曼研究院对该手稿描述的核心鼻控技术递交了专利申请。
媒体联系人：Noam Sobel，以色列魏茨曼研究院神经生物学系
Department of Neurobiology, Weizmann Institute, Rehovot, ISRAEL
电话：+972-8934-6253
电子邮件：noam.sobel@weizmann.ac.il
Published online before print July 26, 2010, doi: 10.1073/pnas.1006746107
Sniffing enables communication and environmental control for the severely disabled
Anton Plotkina,1, Lee Selaa,1, Aharon Weissbroda, Roni Kahanaa, Lior Haviva, Yaara Yeshuruna, Nachum Sorokerb,c, and Noam Sobela,2
Abstract
Paradoxically, improvements in emergency medicine have increased survival albeit with severe disability ranging from quadriplegia to “locked-in syndrome.” Locked-in syndrome is characterized by intact cognition yet complete paralysis, and hence these individuals are “locked-in” their own body, at best able to communicate using eye blinks alone. Sniffing is a precise sensory-motor acquisition entailing changes in nasal pressure. The fine control of sniffing depends on positioning the soft palate, which is innervated by multiple cranial nerves. This innervation pattern led us to hypothesize that sniffing may remain conserved following severe injury. To test this, we developed a device that measures nasal pressure and converts it into electrical signals. The device enabled sniffs to control an actuator with speed similar to that of a hand using a mouse or joystick. Functional magnetic resonance imaging of device usage revealed a widely distributed neural network, allowing for increased conservation following injury. Also, device usage shared neural substrates with language production, rendering sniffs a promising bypass mode of communication. Indeed, sniffing allowed completely paralyzed locked-in participants to write text and quadriplegic participants to write text and drive an electric wheelchair. We conclude that redirection of sniff motor programs toward alternative functions allows sniffing to provide a control interface that is fast, accurate, robust, and highly conserved following severe injury.
