Tackling daily stress for deafblind people
Creating a tangible experience of time for deafblind + mentally disabled people
Royal Visio: Waiting Instrument
Based on the experience of caregivers at Royal Visio, deafblind + mentally disabled people have to endure very stressful periods of waiting time when their caregiver has to leave them alone for a couple of minutes already. Royal Visio has developed the hypothesis that a better sense of the amount of time they have to wait could reduce their stress level.
Pezy Group designed concepts and developed a waiting instrument prototype that enables deafblind + mentally disabled people to experience the waiting time in a tangible way.
The challenge was that the target group has no sense of time. Caregivers can’t just tell them how much time they have to wait. They don’t know how long a minute takes, nor how to read a clock.
Vision
The main purpose of the waiting instrument is to provide a concrete sense of time, to reduce stress while waiting for the caregiver to come back. This is achieved by using moving pillars indicating a clear beginning, progress and end-state. By making the moving pillars interactable, users can learn how they should interpret the device and investigate the remaining time. This keeps them engaged, which improves the reduction of stress.
Collaboration with Pezy Group
Royal Visio asked Pezy Group to come up with fresh ideas on how to solve this issue and develop various concepts. The hard part was that the target group could not be directly involved in the process. The expertise of caregivers was used to review the concepts and make a decision. Pezy Group developed a small series of demonstrator prototypes that look and work like real. Royal Visio is using these prototypes to test the effect in the daily lives of multiple deafblind + mentally disabled users. This will provide many insights on whether the hypothesis might be correct.
Challenges
The main challenge was that the target group has no sense of time. Caregivers can’t just tell them how much time they have to wait. They don’t know how long a minute takes, nor how to read a clock. Next to that, the product had to be convenient in use for both the client as well as the caregiver. Various hardware & software solutions were designed to ensure a smooth experience for both the client as well as the caregiver. Furthermore, a delicate balance had to be found in object sizes (for a good tactile experience), while maintaining a compact housing in which the entire driving mechanism and all prototype electronics had to fit.
Design solution
The waiting instrument provides a tangible experience of time, with moving pillars that indicate a clear start, progress and end-state. The experience of remaining waiting time should reduce the stress level of deafblind + mentally disabled users. To strengthen the ‘readability’, contrasting colors are used between the pillars and housing, as some users still have some percentage of their eye-sight left. By making the moving pillars interactable, users can learn how they should interpret the device and investigate the remaining time. This keeps them engaged, which improves the reduction of stress. Examples of solutions to ensure a smooth experience for both the client as well as the caregiver include:
– A very simple user interface is located on the bottom of the device, to enable the caregiver to easily set and start the waiting time, while avoiding tactile confusion for the client.
– Once the time has been started, the user interface can not be interacted with any-more, to avoid the client (accidentally) sabotaging the waiting time.
– The on/off button is hidden underneath a lid to avoid the client accidentally turning the device off.
