Dundee student’s audio player will help dementia sufferers

A Dundee student’s design means care home residents can roll back the years — through their ears.

Whitfield woman Stephanie Post created her Sound Sparks project 
to benefit elderly people suffering from dementia.

And, after a rousing reception at Balcarres Care Home in Broughty Ferry, she will now present her project for assessment before she exhibits it at a top London show.

Stephanie, 22, had to create a final project for her last year studying digital interaction design at Dundee University.

She decided she wanted to help people with her work, and also had personal experience of Alzheimer’s disease through her extended family.

So, after visiting residential homes and speaking to staff, Stephanie tailored her project around the memories of Balcarres resident Jean Milton, 86.

She designed and built a sleek speaker unit which can identify sound recordings in computer chips.

“It’s basically an audio player”, said Stephanie, of the beechwood and acrylic box.

“I made it really simple, so a person with dementia would be able to use it.”

Along with the speaker system, she crafted six “tags” which contain sounds which relate to Jean’s memories.

One tag features sound snippets from an old-fashioned schoolyard, while another uses clips from classic films like Casablanca.

“When Jean came into the room she didn’t really know what I was about to show her,” said Stephanie.

“She put the tag on the speaker, and it came out really loud. Her face just brightened up — and then she started dancing.”

Stephanie was smiling too after seeing the result of months of research, planning, and her first efforts in the workshop.

As well as designing the speaker unit for maximum simplicity, she also kept it modern and minimalist, as her research showed people with dementia do not want to feel dated.

She now plans to look into getting the design patented, but will first exhibit it at her degree show on May 16.

After completing her studies, she will travel south to the New Designers show in London in June, where thousands of graduates show off their work.

“I’ve not seen anything else like this,” said Stephanie.

“I looked to see what had been done already, and there isn’t that much technology that’s been done with dementia. My great aunt had Alzheimer’s — that was another reason why I did it.

“I think it could work for early and mid-stage dementia.

“Eventually every person in a care home could have their own tags.”

Balcarres Care Home manager Lynn McLean is a huge fan of Stephanie’s sonic strategy.

Lynne, 50, said: “It’s just priceless to see them react like that. It’s an excellent way to bring back a lot of really good memories for them. I’ve been telling everybody about it. I was so impressed with it.

“I told her she should get it patented.

“If there’s anything to help our residents, I buy it.”

Lynne has decades of experience working with elderly people.

She added that the product could also be particularly useful for blind people due to the chunky image designs there are on each tag.

Source thetele.co.uk