TechnologyHow do neural interfaces work?

How we interface with the nervous system

Every neural interface trades access, resolution and invasiveness against each other. This explorer places 32 of them on one map, by what they do and how far they have come, so that an EEG cap, a deep brain stimulator and an intracortical array can be read on the same terms.

BCI is evolving from decoding the nervous system to interacting with it.

Reading
Writing
Closed loop
Biohybrid

Clinical ECoG grid

Layer 7

Neuropixels 1.0

Neural interfaces, measuredElectrode size and pitch at true scale, and where each interface sits, on the dura, under it or in the cortex, and how it gets there. Each square above is 1 mm of cortex.

AccessMechanismTargetMaturityUse case

32 interfaces

Access ↓

Read

Sense neural activity

Bidirectional

Sense and stimulate in closed loop

Write

Influence neural activity

Non-invasive

Around the head

On the skin

Minimally invasive

Vessel or skull window

Invasive

Nerve or sense organ

On the cortex

In the cortex

Deep brain

Biohybrid · Adjacent frontier

Living neural tissue outside the body. Not an interface with a person.

Fig. 01The interface design spaceSelect up to 4 interfaces to compare.

Colour · function

Read
Write
Bidirectional
Biohybrid

Fill · maturity as a clinical modality

Established
Human feasibility
Early human
Preclinical
Research frontier
Adjacent frontier

ComparingEEG · ECoG · Intracortical

Compare mode

Two to four, side by side

Select interfaces on the map, or start from a pairing that answers a common question. Only characteristics that apply to every interface chosen are compared.

Add from the map

Useful comparisons

Comparison of Electroencephalography, Electrocorticography, Intracortical arrays
Dimension
Function	ReadSense neural activity	ReadSense neural activity	ReadSense neural activity
Access	Non-invasive	InvasiveA conventional grid under the dura is placed through a craniotomy. Epidural implants open the skull too, to the size of the implant, but leave the dura closed; films can be slid under the dura through a slit, and soft grids are being designed to unfold through a burr hole. Some of these systems are classed as minimally invasive in the company profiles.	Invasive
Mechanism	Electrical	Electrical	Electrical
Target	Cortex	Cortex	Cortex
Information flow	Brain → scalp electrodes	Cortex → surface grid	Cortex → penetrating array
Spatial resolutionCentimetres → Single neurons	Centimetre scale	Millimetre to sub-millimetre	Single neurons
Temporal resolutionSeconds → Sub-millisecond	Milliseconds	Milliseconds	Sub-millisecond
Signal richnessIndirect or summed → Single-unit detail	The summed activity of large populations	Population activity, including high gamma	Spikes from individual neurons
CoverageOne small site → Whole brain	Whole head	Several cm² per array	A few mm² per array
InvasivenessNone → Open, penetrating	None	Craniotomy; slit delivery for thin films	Craniotomy; penetrating insertion
Long-term stabilityVariable → Stable for years	Varies session to session	Stable over months to years in studies	Changes over months to years; varies by design
Maturity as a clinical modality	EstablishedA routine clinical test for epilepsy, sleep and brain monitoring.	EstablishedRoutine in epilepsy surgery for mapping and monitoring.	Human feasibilityResearch implants in people since 2004. Not a routine clinical tool.
Maturity as a BCI application	Human feasibilityDecades of human studies and consumer products. Few validated clinical uses as an interface.	Human feasibilityResearch implants in several countries. One epidural system is authorised in China for assisted grasp.	Human feasibilityFeasibility studies across several groups and companies; the basis of the leading speech results.
Strengths	No surgery Low cost and portable Largest open tooling and dataset ecosystem	Stable signals that support long recalibration-free use Broad coverage of speech and motor areas Does not penetrate cortex	Highest information rate demonstrated in people Basis of the leading speech and handwriting results
Limitations	Low signal-to-noise for fine movement or speech Sensitive to setup, movement and muscle artefacts	Cannot isolate single neurons Still requires opening the skull in most designs	Samples a small patch of cortex Long-term signal stability and tissue response remain open questions
Common applications	Clinical monitoring Rehabilitation and neurofeedback research Consumer wearables	Speech and communication Computer and device control Mapping function before and during epilepsy and tumour surgery	Speech and communication Cursor and device control Robotic arm control
Human evidence	Very large human literature. Reliable for coarse control and brain-state monitoring; decoding of speech or fine movement remains limited. As therapy it has gone furthest: an EEG system for hand rehabilitation after stroke has held FDA marketing authorisation since 2021.	Speech decoded at a median 78 words per minute from a surface grid in one participant (2023), and a 128-channel implant that kept its control across days without recalibration (2021). A 32-participant trial supported the registration of an epidural system in China; its results are unpublished.	Two decades of peer-reviewed results, mostly from single participants: handwriting at 90 characters per minute (2021), speech at 62 words per minute (2023), 97.5% word accuracy held over 8.4 months (2024), two-handed typing at up to 110 characters per minute (2026), and more than 3,800 hours of use at home by one participant with no researcher present (2026).
What needs to happen next	Dry, wearable sensors that hold signal quality outside the laboratory, and decoders that transfer between people and sessions.	Fully implanted wireless systems with high channel counts, and trials large enough to support wider authorisation.	Longevity data for the newer electrode designs, and a pivotal trial.
Related research	Shen Q et al. 2026 Gramfort A et al. 2013	Brosler SC et al. 2026 Leinders S et al. 2026 Metzger SL et al. 2023 Lorach H et al. 2023 +10 more	Card NS et al. 2026 Card NS et al. 2024 Wairagkar M et al. 2025 Willett FR et al. 2023 +13 more
Related companies	BrainCo g.tec medical engineering Kandu Araya Cognixion +1 more	Precision Neuroscience CorTec ONWARD Medical INBRAIN Neuroelectronics Motif Neurotech +11 more	Neuralink Paradromics Blackrock Neurotech BrainGate StairMed +2 more

Bars run from low to high and show a range, not a score. A wide bar means the characteristic varies across implementations. Qualitative editorial ranges; specific devices differ.

Descriptions, ranges and maturity levels are editorial analysis, kept qualitative where the literature does not support exact comparison across technologies. Specific devices differ.

All 32 interfaces as a table

Every interface, with its function, access, mechanism, target and maturity
Function	Access	Mechanism	Target	Clinical modality	BCI application
Read	Non-invasive	Electrical	Cortex	Established	Human feasibility
Read	Non-invasive	Magnetic	Cortex	Established	Research frontier
Read	Non-invasive	Optical	Cortex	Human feasibility	Research frontier
Read	Non-invasive	Electrical	Muscle / neuromotor	Established	Established
Read	Minimally invasive	Electrical	Cortex	Human feasibility	Human feasibility
Read	Minimally invasive	Acoustic	Cortex, Deep brain	Early human	Preclinical
Read	Invasive	Electrical	Peripheral nerve, Muscle / neuromotor	Early human	Early human
Read	Invasive	Electrical	Cortex	Established	Human feasibility
Read	Invasive	Electrical	Cortex	Human feasibility	Human feasibility
Read	Invasive	Electrical	Deep brain, Cortex	Established	Early human
Write	Non-invasive	Magnetic	Cortex	Established	Research frontier
Write	Non-invasive	Electrical	Cortex	Human feasibility	Research frontier
Write	Non-invasive	Acoustic	Cortex, Deep brain	Early human	Research frontier
Write	Invasive	Electrical	Peripheral nerve	Established	Early human
Write	Invasive	Electrical	Retina	Human feasibility	Human feasibility
Write	Invasive	Electrical	Cochlea	Established	Established
Write	Invasive	Electrical	Brainstem	Established	Established
Write	Invasive	Electrical	Cortex	Established	Early human
Write	Invasive	Electrical	Cortex	Early human	Early human
Write	Invasive	Optical, Molecular	Cortex, Deep brain, Retina	Early human	Preclinical
Write	Invasive	Electrical	Deep brain	Established	Early human
Bidirectional	Invasive	Electrical	Peripheral nerve, Muscle / neuromotor	Early human	Early human
Bidirectional	Invasive	Electrical	Cortex	Established	Early human
Bidirectional	Invasive	Electrical	Cortex, Deep brain	Established	Human feasibility
Bidirectional	Invasive	Electrical	Cortex, Spinal cord	Early human	Early human
Bidirectional	Invasive	Electrical	Cortex	Early human	Early human
Bidirectional	Invasive	Electrical	Deep brain, Cortex	Established	Early human
Bidirectional	Invasive	Electrical	Deep brain	Established	Human feasibility
Biohybrid	Ex vivo	Electrical, Biological	Cultured neural tissue	Adjacent frontier	Adjacent frontier
Biohybrid	Ex vivo	Electrical, Optical, Biological	Cultured neural tissue	Adjacent frontier	Adjacent frontier
Biohybrid	Ex vivo	Biological, Electrical	Cultured neural tissue	Adjacent frontier	Adjacent frontier
Biohybrid	Ex vivo	Biological, Electrical	Cultured neural tissue	Adjacent frontier	Adjacent frontier

Use-case explorer

Start from what people want to do

Nine things people want an interface to do. Each links the technology, the companies, the research, the studies and the tools behind it, and says what is available today.

Decoding attempted speech or writing into text and voice.

Can someone who cannot speak hold a conversation again?

Research participants with paralysis have used implanted BCIs to produce text and synthesised voice from attempted speech. All such systems remain in early feasibility studies.

Latest milestoneA single surface implant decoded speech and upper-body gestures at the same time in three participants.

Technology: EEG MEG / OPM Endovascular ECoG Intracortical sEEG
Companies: Neuralink Synchron Precision Neuroscience Paradromics Blackrock Neurotech BrainGate StairMed NeuroXess NeuCyber NeuroTech ABILITY Neurotech JiMED g.tec medical engineering Araya Cognixion
Research: Simultaneous speech and gesture decoding for multimodal communication in paralysis Long-term independent use of an intracortical brain–computer interface for speech and cursor control Implanted brain-computer interface functionality during nighttime in late-stage amyotrophic lateral sclerosis An Accurate and Rapidly Calibrating Speech Neuroprosthesis An instantaneous voice-synthesis neuroprosthesis+13 more
Clinical: VOICE Connect-One BrainGate2 BRAVO UNP CortiCom+3 more
Tools: BRAND torch_brain img_pipe MNE-Python Braindecode
Datasets: Brain-to-Text '25 Brain-to-Text Benchmark '24 LibriBrain / LibriBrain100 Podcast ECoG
Frontier: Speech & Communication Cognitive Interfaces
On the calendar: BCI Meeting 2027

Why do such different devices exist for the same goal? Each trades signal quality against surgical access. Read the dossier

The interface map