Richard Dye

Using a touch screen computer to support relationships between people with dementia and caregivers

Progressive and irreversible cognitive impairments affect the ability of people with dementia to communicate and interact with caregivers. This places a burden on caregivers to initiate and manage interactions to the extent that they may avoid all but essential communication. CIRCA is an interactive, multimedia touch screen system that contains a wide range of stimuli to prompt reminiscing. The intention is that people with dementia and caregivers will explore CIRCA together, using the recollections sparked by the media as the basis for conversations. This paper reports an evaluation of the utility of CIRCA looking particularly at whether CIRCA can meet the needs of both people with dementia and caregivers to engage in mutually satisfying interactions. The findings confirm that people with dementia can use the touch screen system and that the contents prompt them to reminisce. The system also supports caregivers to interact with people with dementia as more equal participants in the conversation. The results suggest that interacting with the touch screen system is engaging and enjoyable for people with dementia and caregivers alike and provides a supportive interaction environment that positively benefits their relationships.

A cognitive prosthesis and communication support for people with dementia

Abstract Computers may have the potential to augment human cognitive processes in ways that could be beneficial for people with dementia. This possibility is being investigated by a multidisciplinary team. Previous work on improving the performance of augmentative communication systems for non-speaking people has shown the value of conversation modelling and prompting in this setting. The impairment of short-term memory with dementia causes serious difficulties in communication. A conversation support and prompting system is being developed based on an interactive multimedia reminiscence presentation. Reminiscence has been chosen as a basis for the conversations because long-term memories can remain relatively intact with dementia, even where short-term memory is ineffective. Initial trials of the system involving people with dementia and their carers have shown that such a system can maintain the interest and active participation of a person with dementia, and increase carers’ enjoyment of the interaction. Further work will focus on directing the impact of multimedia towards increasing the quantity and quality of the communication taking place.

A Communication Support System for Older People with Dementia

CIRCA lets those with short-term memory loss draw on reminiscences to converse with relatives and caregivers. The system, which software engineers, psychologists,and designers developed with caregiver input, features a touch screen that displays photos, music, video, text, and other materials to help those with dementia access long-term memory. This paper presents a communication support system for older people with dementia.

A script-based AAC system for transactional interaction

Non-speaking people often rely on AAC (Augmentative and Alternative Communication) devices to assist them to communicate. These AAC devices are slow to operate, however, and as a result conversations can be very difficult and frequently break down. This is especially the case when the conversation partner is unfamiliar with this method of communication, and is a big obstacle to many people when they wish to conduct simple everyday transactions. A way of improving the performance of AAC devices by using scripts is discussed. A prototype system to test this idea was constructed, and a preliminary experiment performed with promising results. A practical AAC device which incorporates scripts was then developed, and is described.

Stimulating people with dementia to reminisce using personal and generic photographs

Reminiscing is a positive pastime for people with dementia but little is known about selecting materials to prompt reminiscing, particularly whether personal items are more useful than generic ones. This paper reports two small studies, the first using personal stimuli (family photographs) and the second generic photographs of annual events to examine their relative effectiveness as reminiscence prompts for people with dementia. Story telling and the types of information people with dementia produced in response to the photographs are examined. In response to family photographs, people with dementia told very few stories and produced quite limited information. When shown generic photographs, people with dementia produced quite detailed and emotional stories of personal significance. The findings suggest that personal items perform as a memory test for labels and descriptions of family events whereas generic items spark off different recollections in different people, thereby encouraging the sharing of stories and social reminiscing.

Designing an interface usable by people with dementia

Caring for people with dementia will be one of the major challenges of the 21st century. Advancing technology may offer ways to augment and supplement human care, if it is sensitively designed with the needs of potential users always taken into account. Developing an interface that a person with dementia can make sense of and use is a difficult goal. Beginning to meet this challenge is one aspect of a programme we have embarked on to develop a multi-media system that can be used to help people with dementia communicate better with others. Reminiscence work with people with dementia is a valuable tool for enabling them to participate meaningfully in conversations. We are developing a system which uses multimedia technology as an effective vehicle for delivering reminiscence stimulus and thus conversation support for people with dementia.

Designing the Interface Between Dementia Patients, Caregivers And Computer-Based Intervention

People with Alzheimers Disease (AD) experience progressive degeneration of cognitive skills and the cumulative loss of short-term memory function. This severely impairs their ability to communicate with relatives and caregivers. The ‘dehumanizing’ effect that is engendered by the loss of communication skills, and the subsequent psychological and emotional distress experienced by people with AD and their caregivers are perhaps the most significant and detrimental psycho-social characteristics of AD. This paper demonstrates how our multidisciplinary, user-centred approach to design for computer-based assistive tools for people with AD can support progressive, non-pharmacological intervention and promote improved quality of life in dementia care environments.

Digital Video Games for Older Adults with Cognitive Impairment

Digital video games offer opportunities for older adults with cognitive impairment to engage in meaningful activities. However, to achieve this benefit digital video games are needed that take account of the players’ cognitive impairment. This paper reports work with older adults with cognitive impairment due to dementia to find out how they can best be prompted to initiate and play games independently, what sorts of digital video activities they like to play, and if playing digital video games is engaging. The results demonstrate that older adults with cognitive impairment can learn to play new digital video activities and can be prompted to play independently through visual and auditory cues. Their behaviour indicates features of Flow similar to that reported in other gaming studies.

An interactive entertainment system usable by elderly people with dementia

As the population profile in most part of the world is more and more weighted towards older people, the incidence of dementia will continue to increase. Dementia is marked by a general cognitive decline, and in particular the impairment of working (short-term) memory. Finding ways to engage people with dementia in stimulating but safe activities which they can do without the help of a carer would be beneficial both to them and to their caregivers. We are developing an interactive entertainment system designed to be used alone by a person with dementia without caregiver assistance. We have piloted a number of interactive virtual environments and activities both with people with dementia and professionals in the field of dementia care. We report the results of this pilot work and consider the further questions to be addressed in developing an engaging, multimedia activity for people with dementia to use independently.

A full-speed listening typewriter simulation

For automatic speech recognition applications such as a listening typewriter, there is a pressing need for the evaluation of speech input to machine. Unfortunately current recognition technology is not adequate for such evaluation, and thus simulation must be used. Some simulations have been performed where the conversion from speech to orthography was performed by a typist, but these simulations were restricted by the speed at which the typist could input data. This paper describes a simulation based on a palantype shorthand machine and a commercially available transcription system. The use of a shorthand machine rather than a QWERTY keyboard means that the speech rates can be much greater and thus the simulation need not impose unrealistic speed liminations on the speaker.