In a method of assisting a subject to generate speech, at least one first neural impulse is sensed from a first preselected location in the subject's brain. A first preselected sound is associated with the first neural impulse. The first preselected sound is generated in an audible format. In an apparatus for assisting the subject to generate speech, at least one sensor senses a neural impulse in the subject's brain and generates a signal representative thereof. An electronic speech generator generates a phoneme in response to the generation of the signal. An audio system generates audible sounds corresponding to the phoneme based upon the signal received from the speech generator.