Stephen Hawking will consider using brainwaves to help him speak

Hawking, the best-selling author of A Brief History Of Time, who suffers with Motor Neurone disease, currently uses his computer to speak by twitching a muscle on his cheek. Each movement is then detected by an optical sensor mounted on his glasses, which allows him to choose letters and words on a computer screen.

He will now be working with a team from Intel to find a way to express himself after a deterioration in his health made it more difficult for him to operate his computer.

One of the methods put forward is brain-wave scanning in which a head set will be used to measure the electrical activity in the brain or eyeball tracking. Facial recognition could also be an option and Hawking might grimace or smile to move a computer cursor in a certain direction or remove it with another expression.

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