NIH highlights BCI controlling speech and avatar gestures together

The US National Institutes of Health highlighted research in which a brain-computer interface translated neural activity into both speech and body-language movements for a virtual avatar. The goal is more expressive communication for participants who cannot reliably move or speak.

Combining speech and gesture decoding is a significant usability target because natural communication is multimodal. The demonstration remains an experimental assistive-communication system, not a generalized interface available for everyday purchase.