Background

David Brandman is a neurosurgeon at UC Davis leading clinical BCI research focused on restoring communication to paralyzed patients. His neuroprosthetics laboratory bridges surgical expertise with advanced signal processing and machine learning approaches to neural decoding.

Speech Decoding Breakthrough

Brandman’s laboratory achieved 97% accuracy in decoding intended speech from brain signals, a landmark result demonstrating the feasibility of high-fidelity speech restoration through BCIs. This performance level represents functional communication capability and was achieved using electrocorticography (ECoG) electrodes positioned on the brain’s surface.

BrainGate2 Clinical Trial

Brandman participates in the BrainGate2 consortium as a clinical investigator, contributing to multi-institutional evaluation of intracortical electrode BCIs. His involvement bridges academic research infrastructure with clinical trial conduct in a university medical center setting.

Recognition and Impact

In 2025, Brandman received a Top Ten Clinical Research Achievement Award, recognition of the significance of his speech decoding work. This award reflects growing clinical acceptance and validation of BCI approaches for communication restoration, distinct from motor prosthetics.

Speech Focus

By emphasizing speech restoration rather than limb control, Brandman addresses a distinct patient population with distinct neurological needs. Speech BCIs represent a natural evolution from motor BCIs toward broader restoration of human communication capabilities.