Brain-Computer Interface Documentary Film: Joshua Podmore

About the Brain-Computer Interface Documentary Film

This brain-computer interface documentary film was made for Durham University’s Centre for Visual Arts and Culture, one of three profile films made alongside a wider film about the Durham Leverhulme Doctoral Training Programme in Visual Culture. It follows Joshua Podmore, who held a Leverhulme Doctoral Scholarship in Durham’s Department of Psychology, developing new ways for people with severe paralysis to communicate.

An Emoji Speller for People Who Cannot Speak

At the heart of this brain-computer interface documentary film is a device Podmore’s PhD centred on, one that lets a person spell out what they want to say using nothing but their brain’s own electrical signals.

Throughout the thesis, I’ve been developing a P300 based emoji speller for individuals with severe paralysis. The P300 waveform is characterised by a big drop and then an even bigger peak, and this helps us figure out which of the target emojis a given patient or participant is trying to spell. What’s happening now is our participant is attending to different emojis on screen, depending on where the white cueing circle is positioned. We capture the signals coming from the headset and process them using a series of filters, at which point we predict which emoji on screen our participant was attending to. If we can get that to work in a clinical setting, then we can potentially restore someone’s ability to communicate with the outside world, which is of course invaluable.

He chose emojis deliberately, over conventional text based spellers.

The reason I undertook this research, principally with the emoji array, is because I believe that emojis have an inherent richness that is often lacking in text based communications. An emoji array can also be used far more easily across different regions.

A Placement at James Cook University Hospital

Part of the Leverhulme programme’s structure was a three month placement outside the university, and Podmore’s took him into a hospital neurology ward.

One of the standout experiences I had during my PhD was being able to go on a three month placement to the James Cook University Hospital in Middlesbrough. This gave me access to a number of patients suffering from the kinds of communication disorders that these kinds of technologies are developed to address. It also gave me the opportunity to talk with a number of medical scientists who are developing bespoke medical devices. I also got to talk to neurosurgeons, and was even lucky enough to witness a brain and spinal surgery.

Working Across Psychology, Computer Science and Neuroscience

Podmore describes his field, at the crossing point of psychology, computer science and neuroscience, as one that could not exist without genuinely interdisciplinary support, which is exactly what CVAC offered.

My field is extremely interdisciplinary. It brings together the sciences of psychology, computer science and neuroscience, and this interdisciplinary nature of the project is perfectly complemented by CVAC, the Centre for Visual Arts and Culture. This brings together academics from all different walks of life, and has truly informed the way I conduct my research. Without cross collaboration, without a cross-pollination of minds and ideas, these kinds of technologies will never be developed.

What the PhD Gave Him

This brain-computer interface documentary film closes with what Podmore carried forward from the programme, funded throughout by the Leverhulme Trust, now continuing in his current work as a BCI researcher at the University of Essex, working on semantic decoding in EEG.

Throughout the thesis, I’ve gained a number of crucial skills, from coding to experimental design to troubleshooting at the bench, to the write up of publications. All these things are going to stand me in good stead for all the endeavours I undertake in my future career. They’ve also given me just personal support in every day. Doing a PhD is very difficult, and I’ve been supported every second of the way.