Brain implant developer Paradromics has received approval from the US Food and Drug Administration to test its device in an early-stage human trial, the company announced Thursday. The trial will assess the long-term safety of the Paradromics device, as well as its ability to enable synthesized speech and text communication. Paradromics is one of several companies—which include Neuralink, Synchron, Precision Neuroscience, and Cognixion—working on technology to control computers and other devices using brain waves. Earlier this year, Paradromics briefly implanted its device in a person who was already undergoing brain surgery. Paradromics’ implant, called the Connexus, is a metal disk smaller than the size of a dime with 421 microwire electrodes that rest in the brain tissue and record from individual neurons.