James B. MacKrill

Improving the hospital 'soundscape': a framework to measure individual perceptual response to hospital sounds.

Work on the perception of urban soundscapes has generated a number of perceptual models which are proposed as tools to test and evaluate soundscape interventions. However, despite the excessive sound levels and noise within hospital environments, perceptual models have not been developed for these spaces. To address this, a two-stage approach was developed by the authors to create such a model. First, semantics were obtained from listening evaluations which captured the feelings of individuals from hearing hospital sounds. Then, 30 participants rated a range of sound clips representative of a ward soundscape based on these semantics. Principal component analysis extracted a two-dimensional space representing an emotional–cognitive response. The framework enables soundscape interventions to be tested which may improve the perception of these hospital environments. Practitioner Summary: Hospital sound is commonly measured in terms of objective sound level. This does not consider the positive or negative subjective reactions to these sounds. This paper understands these reactions and produces a perceptual framework which can be used to measure the subjective response to a hospital soundscape.

Digital Co-design Applied to Healthcare Environments: A Comparative Study

Co-design approaches have been used by different sectors, to understand end-user perspectives. They have been diversified from traditional use in product development to sectors such as healthcare environments. They put emphasis on innovation with end-users where this is seen as a source of competitive advantage, and fits with the logic of end-user-led innovation. It does however ask the question of how to enable such approaches and if digital approaches are more useful than traditional paper-based methods. We propose a digital co-design tool for environment improvement that can potentially promote user involvement. This paper reports on a comparative study on co-designing a healthcare environment using the digital tool versus a traditional paper-based tool. Discussion centers on the benefits and drawbacks of proposed approach.

Exploring homeowners’ perception and experiences in using a domestic smart home heating controller

Space heating in the UK is responsible for 60% of the total UK energy consumption by domestic buildings. The UK has committed to reduce heating consumption through its ‘Smarter Heating Controls Research Programme’, by educating people on how they heat their homes. UK utility companies have trialed smart home heating controls and claim that these packages, consisting of a smart thermostat, a mobile application and an online portal, can save energy. However, there is little robust evidence on people’s perceptions and reported experiences of using smart heating controls. This study aimed to understand homeowners’ perceptions and experiences in using a domestic home heating controller in order to develop recommendations for the technology and its implementation into people’s homes. Perceptions and experiences were investigated in three phases focusing on (a) the pre-use phase, which collected demographic information, awareness and expectations, (b) the in-use phase, which included habits of use, and (c) the post-use phase, which addressed satisfaction, motivation and feedback. Four online questionnaire surveys (with closed and open-ended questions) were used throughout the study, supplemented with telephone interviews in the post-use phase. Together these generated an understanding of the finer nuances of perceptions towards the smart home heating controller and underpinned recommendations for future technology development. The results showed that the smart home heating controller was perceived by 70% of participants as successfully influencing and changing their home heating behaviour. In order for smart home heating controllers to be successful, more intuitive technology with additional personalised information throughout the installation and familiarisation process may be beneficial.

Proposing a conceptual framework to develop the hospital soundscape through visual communication

Abstract Sound level measurement is used to assess sound within any environment, never more so than in hospitals. This is due to the negative effects that high sound level can have on patients and staff. However, other ways of exploring sound and the soundscape within the hospital context have been used: sound art has conveyed the experiences of heart transplant patients. Art may act as juxtaposition to objective sound level measurement but the two fundamentally attempt to depict attributes of the soundscape. Using theory from design and concepts from art a framework is presented for designing a positive soundscape experience. This is not through the addition of sound per se but through creatively communicating the information contained within a soundscape to enable the everyday listener to interpret a cacophony of hospital sounds more positively. In representing visual communication of sound as a design object, a new way to explore sound may exist.

Design for behaviour change for health and wellbeing

Design impacts every part of our lives. The design of products and services influences the way we go about our daily activities and it is hard to imagine any activity in our daily lives that is not dependent on design in some capacity. Clothing, mobile phones, computers, cars, tools and kitchenware all enable and hold in place everyday practices. Despite designs omnipresence, the understanding of how design may facilitate desirable behaviours is still fragmented, with limited frameworks and examples of how design can effect change in professional and public contexts. This text presents an overview of current approaches dedicated to understanding how design may be used intentionally to make changes to improve a range of problematic social and environmental issues. It offers a cross-disciplinary and cross-sectoral overview of different academic theories adopted and applied to design for behaviour change. The aim of the volume is twofold: firstly, to provide an overview of existing design models that integrate theories of change from differing scientific backgrounds; secondly, to offer an overview of application of key design for behaviour change approaches as used across case studies in different sectors, such as design for health and wellbeing, sustainability, safety, design against crime and social design. Design for Behaviour Change will appeal to designers, design students and practitioners of behavioural change.