# CRCNS: Avian Model for Neural Activity Driven Speech Prostheses

> **NIH NIH R01** · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN DIEGO · 2021 · $219,319

## Abstract

Understanding the physical, computational, and theoretical bases of human vocal
communication, speech, is crucial to improved comprehension of voice, speech and language
diseases and disorders, and improving their diagnosis, treatment and prevention. Meeting this
challenge requires knowledge of the neural and sensorimotor mechanisms of vocal motor control.
Our project will directly investigate the neural and sensorimotor mechanisms involved in the
production of complex, natural, vocal communication signals. Our results will directly enhance
brain-computer interface technology for communication and will accelerate the development of
prostheses and other assistive/augmentative technologies for individuals with communications
deficits due to injury or disease. We will develop a vocal prosthetic that directly translates neural
signals in cortical sensorimotor and vocal-motor control regions into vocal communication signals
output in real-time. Building on success using non-human primates for brain computer interfaces
for general motor control, the prosthetic will be developed in songbirds, whose acoustically rich,
learned vocalizations share many features with human speech. Because the songbird vocal
apparatus is functionally and anatomically similar to the human larynx, and the cortical regions
that control it are closely analogous to speech motor-control areas of the human brain, songbirds
offer an ideal model for the proposed studies. Beyond the application of our work to human voice
and speech, development of the vocal prosthetic will enable novel speech-relevant studies in the
songbird model that can reveal fundamental mechanisms of vocal learning and production. In the
first stage of the project, we collect a large data set of simultaneously recorded neural activity and
vocalizations. In stage two, we will apply machine learning and artificial intelligence techniques to
develop algorithms that map neural recordings to vocal output and enable us to estimate intended
vocalizations directly from neural data. In stage three, we will develop computing infrastructure to
run these algorithms in real-time, predicting intended vocalizations from neural activity as the
animal is actively producing these vocalizations. In stage four, we will test the effectiveness of the
prosthetic by substituting the bird’s own vocalization with the output from our prosthetic system.
Success will set the stage for testing of these technologies in humans and translation to multiple
assistive devices. In addition to our research goals, the project will engage graduate,
undergraduate, and high school students through the development of novel educational modules
that introduce students to brain machine interface and multidisciplinary studies that span
engineering and the basic sciences.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10408524
- **Project number:** 3R01DC018446-03S1
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN DIEGO
- **Principal Investigator:** TIMOTHY Q GENTNER
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $219,319
- **Award type:** 3
- **Project period:** 2019-08-01 → 2024-07-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10408524

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10408524, CRCNS: Avian Model for Neural Activity Driven Speech Prostheses (3R01DC018446-03S1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-28 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10408524. Licensed CC0.

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