A Sonomyography-based Muscle Computer Interface for Individuals with Spinal Cord Injury

TL;DR

This study introduces a sonomyography-based muscle-computer interface that allows individuals with spinal cord injury to control a virtual cursor, demonstrating precise, graded control and potential for dexterous assistive device operation.

Contribution

The paper presents a novel sonomyography-based interface for SCI patients, improving control fidelity over traditional electromyography methods.

Findings

Participants successfully controlled a virtual cursor using wrist muscle contractions.

The interface enabled stable, graded control at multiple levels.

Potential for dexterous control of assistive devices demonstrated.

Abstract

Impairment of hand functions in individuals with spinal cord injury (SCI) severely disrupts activities of daily living. Recent advances have enabled rehabilitation assisted by robotic devices to augment the residual function of the muscles. Traditionally, non-invasive electromyography-based peripheral neural interfaces have been utilized to sense volitional motor intent to drive robotic assistive devices. However, the dexterity and fidelity of control that can be achieved with electromyography-based control have been limited due to inherent limitations in signal quality. We have developed and tested a muscle-computer interface (MCI) utilizing sonomyography to provide control of a virtual cursor for individuals with motor-incomplete spinal cord injury. We demonstrate that individuals with SCI successfully gained control of a virtual cursor by utilizing contractions of muscles of the wrist joint. The sonomyography-based interface enabled control of the cursor at multiple graded levels demonstrating the ability to achieve accurate and stable endpoint control. Our sonomyography-based muscle-computer interface can enable dexterous control of upper-extremity assistive devices for individuals with motor-incomplete SCI.