We are presenting Give the Body a Voice:
Co-design with Profound Intellectual and Multiple Disabilities to Create Multisensory Wearables.
In the Netherlands, about 10,000 people have profound intellectual and multiple disabilities.
They have a developmental age of four years or younger,
non-verbal communication which is challenging for caregivers and clients,
and the awareness of environment is over or under stimulated.
For this study, we worked with the Parabool to co-design multi-sensory wearables.
Traditionally, multisensory environments have been used to calm anxiety in the care centers.
The PIMD caregivers requested an update to Actie-Reactie,
a more active-reactive stimulation, to keep attention and focus.
Instead, we proposed to use multisensory wearables for on-the-body integration.
We conducted a two-part study.
First, co-design sessions with caregivers and clients, and then a six-week long study
to try the new iteration of the designs.
Our goals were to utilize extimacy, tangible biofeedback, as adaptive technology for PIMD,
and to create multisensory wearables to give the body a voice.
Here you see a participant wearing the Mood Collar designed by Sensoree.
Sensors in the hands measure arousal and that is translated into a palette of five colors around
the collar to give real-time feedback how they're feeling on the inside to the outside world.
First, we carried out several co-design sessions with the professional caregivers,
the informal caregivers which are the parents and the PIMD clients themselves.
In interviews brainstorm sessions and hands-on interactions with the design probes,
we asked about clients preferences for different materials and toys.
We also wanted to see where on the body sensors
could be placed and what kind of stimulation was preferred.
Informed by the caregivers, we created a preliminary kit for the co-design sessions.
There's a speaker with a heartbeat sound,
a smart watch, a Blinky Buzz toy, which is a movement-based light and vibration feedback toy,
and we brought materials to touch: cotton wool, rip stop, and 3d print fabric.
On the right, there's a Mood Collar that you've seen before.
Also, the Flexo Atom was included.
It's an inflatable silicone robot that mimics the pressure of fingers.
Caregivers liked the idea of remote touch and the sound of the motors which made it multisensory.
For the six-week follow-up study, we provided new
iterations of the Mood Collar, Flexo Atom, and Blinky Buzz.
They were the most popular and working out of the box, and the
Mood Collar was the only one with the action-reaction sequence already.
The 10 participants were asked to use the design several times a week whenever appropriate
and the caregivers were asked to provide reactions and emotions of the client,
and describe experience in a form, write down any relevant observations.
Here we conclude with the most important lessons learned.
First our studies revealed the need for highly personalized design as
each client was so unique and how they respond to sensory stimuli.
We've started designing a modular kit where each of the components can be turned on or off.
Secondly, extimacy, tangible biofeedback,
is a promising mechanism that also provides a form of personalization, expression, and connection.
Thirdly, there's a design opportunity for the action-reaction sequence,
but it should be a fine balance between being clear relaxing and predictable on the one hand,
and on the other hand engaging and surprising enough to keep attention.
Finally, the Flexo Atom was most liked as it combined haptics and sound,
and also is available to be used on multiple parts of the body.
For future research, we recommend researchers to create
their designs sturdy and modular, so they can be easily adjusted to each client.
We recommend to investigate more how to integrate biofeedback in the action-reaction sequence
to give the body a voice.
Thank you for your attention and thank you to all the people who helped make the study a success.
Please feel free to contact us for any questions you may have.