BCIwiki (bciwiki.com) — An exploratory study published in The European Journal of Neuroscience on October 9, 2026, developed a non-invasive electroencephalography (EEG) brain-computer interface (BCI) targeting phonological processing in developmental dyslexia and tested it first in adults. The system combines auditory input with visual feedback. Its longer-term design goal is to optimise brain patterns related to phonological development in infants and children, but the present tests involved adults.
The BCI targets neural patterns identified through Temporal Sampling theory, particularly the theta/delta ratio during natural speech listening. This ratio compares two EEG rhythms and is treated as a neural correlate of impaired phonological processing, not as a direct equivalent of reading ability.
Adults with and without dyslexia completed 16 BCI sessions and received pre- and post-training assessments of phonological awareness, single-word reading and non-word reading. Non-word reading involves reading letter combinations that are not real words. BCI learning was assessed both online and offline; offline processing allowed removal of more potential EEG artifacts.
Among participants who learned the BCI, offline BCI scores were significantly associated with improvements in non-word reading in both dyslexic and control participants. BCI learning was also significantly associated with gains in real-word reading and amplitude rise time discrimination, which concerns distinguishing how long a sound's amplitude takes to rise. The authors interpret the findings through Temporal Sampling theory. These associations do not establish that BCI training caused reading improvements and cannot be taken as evidence of treatment efficacy in children.