Fact · Voice and AI
The participant in the 2023 Metzger study could not speak or make speech sounds, and could not type, because of weakness in her orofacial, vocal, arm and hand muscles.
Checked against its source on October 17, 2026
In the source's own words
“cannot speak or vocalize speech sounds given the severe weakness of her orofacial and vocal muscles ... cannot type given the weakness in her arms and hands”
A high-performance neuroprosthesis for speech decoding and avatar control, Sean L. Metzger et al., Nature (open full text via PubMed Central), 2023, Results, participant description.
Open the original- What it measures
- The authors describe a 47-year-old participant whose brainstem stroke happened more than 18 years earlier. She has anarthria and quadriplegia, which is why the study records her attempted speech rather than her typing.
- What it does not show
- This describes one participant. It explains why the study was about speech for people who cannot speak or type, not about typing speed.