Virtual reality technology is all the rage, and the latest advance, known as the Broomx MK360, offers great rewards to users of all ages, especially those with special needs. That ranges from older adults, including those with dementia, living in long-term-care to younger people with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD).
 

Fully immersive VR experience: no headset required!

This device, newly available in North America from its manufacturer in Spain, creates a fully immersive experience without the need for VR headsets.

And while other similar technology requires multiple projectors, the Broomx is the only fully mobile, all-in-one unit. It projects a video that stretches across three walls and onto the ceiling, creating a captivating experience within a user’s entire field of vision. The BroomX is accompanied by more than 100 different 360-degree videos, and can project additional videos, for instance, those taken at home or at a particular event that might have special meaning to those watching.

Among the included videos, imagine, for instance, sitting amid a pod of dolphins watching them swim all around you, splashing and creating waves, and listening to them whistle and click.

Or how about virtually forest bathing — lying in a bed of sun-dappled autumn leaves in the woods, birds chirping in the background.

With no need for headsets, users of the Broomx have less chance of experiencing eye strain or “cybersickness,” a form of motion sickness in response to virtual environments. Many people also find headsets uncomfortable to wear. People with dementia or ASD might resist wearing them.

Improved cognitive function, memory stimulation

VR technology like the BroomX offers a virtual experience that is not only entertaining but engaging cognitively, emotionally and socially. It brings many rewards to users, ranging from lifting moods to creating feelings of calm and relaxation, as well as improving cognitive function, stimulating memory and reducing chronic and acute pain.

Recent research using the Broomx studied the impact of immersive technologies on people with Alzheimer’s disease and moderate to severe dementia living in long-term-care facilities.

In this study, 325 participants from three long-term-care homes enjoyed VR experiences such as being transported to a lush green park to see the cherry blossoms in bloom, being taken to the heart of a bustling city, and finding themselves surrounded by dairy cows in a farmer’s field.

These experiences were not only entertaining but engaging cognitively, emotionally and socially. The research found that residents who used the BroomX were relatively calmer, happier and more relaxed afterwards. Time with the BroomX projections also lifted moods, stimulated memory, improved both appetites and eating among underweight residents, and led to increased conversations and better sleep among all participants.

Study participants cut psychotropic medications

One of the most notable findings of the study, known as The Albert Project and conducted by Primacare Living Solutions with partners including the Centre for Aging and Brain Health Innovation (CABHI), was a 30-per-cent reduction in the use of psychotropic medications to treat participants’ responsive behaviours.
To learn more about the results found in The Albert Project study, please click to watch the video below.

 

VR tools help comfort those with ASD

VR technology has also proven helpful in dealing with the sensory, attention, behaviour, and communication challenges faced by people with ASD, to help them better connect with the people and the around them.

For instance, therapists have used VR exposure therapy to help people become more comfortable in some situations, such as being outdoors. Immersing them first in a virtual park makes it less stressful for them to make the transition to a real park. Similarly, VR technology has been used to help combat phobias.

The Broomx is sold exclusively in North America by SensoryOne, which distributes innovative, award-winning and inspiring sensory products and multisensory environments customized to the individual needs of users.

Interacting with the groundbreaking and award-winning motion-activated projection systems produced by Britain-based OM Interactive can bring many rewards to users of all ages and all levels, particularly those with special needs.

And the experience can be enhanced by digging into an activity kit that accompanies all purchases of any OMI system, including the Mobii Magic Surface, known, for short, as the Mobii.

This goodie bag, filled with accessories including paintbrushes, balls, bean bags and soft fabric batons, can be used with a wide variety of applications, and in a number of different ways.

Adding the use of any or all of these items not only offers more ways to have fun with an OMI system, but can also increase tactile sensations, improve extended reach and shoulder range of motion, boost concentration, and, overall, elevate engagement.

With some swipes of the accessory paintbrushes, users could turn a variety of images, such as flowers or butterflies, from black and white into vivid colours.

Or a bean bag could be tossed onto a projection of an egg, causing it to crack wide open.

With an accessory baton, a user could break up and scatter a school of fish in one application, or swipe correct answers to quizzes in another.

The accessory ball could be pitched at floating feathers to break them up and make them flutter away.

A week of “theme days” could be created to vary up activities. For instance, one day could be devoted to applications that can use a bean bag; another day could turn to activities using a ball.

The accessories can be used to enhance the projections in many ways. One idea is to create “theme days” throughout the week. For instance, a calendar using the Mobii could look like this:

Mindful Mondays: Have participants use the accessory kit paintbrush to colour in a series of fish.

Tuesday tosses: Create some fun competition by having participants toss bean bags onto underwater targets and add up the points for a winning score.

Wet and wild Wednesdays: Participants can use a magnetized rod to go fishing in a virtual body of water.

Thursday throws: Roll a ball across a virtual xylophone, eliciting different sounds as it crosses various keys.

Friday fun facts: Create fun across the generations with bright and simple quizzes that engage both young and old.

Letting imaginations and creativity run free will guarantee users a fun, engaging and beneficial experience with the combination of the projection system and the accompanying activity kit!

 

 

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 Let your imagination and creativity run free!

A sensory room is a therapeutic space for people of all ages to enjoy and use. These rooms and spaces incorporate a number of different tools or aspects that can help an individual to feel more calm, less distracted, better able to communicate and overall, less anxious and stressed. They can also help to mitigate negative behaviours that may be common with some people, often school-aged children.

The equipment used in a sensory room can vary quite a bit from one room to the next, depending on how much space is available for the sensory room and what the needs are of the primary person using it. Whether you are looking at creating a mobile sensory cart or station or are able to convert an entire room to the idea, the intentions behind the equipment will be similar.

Top equipment for creating a sensory room or space

At SensoryOne, we provide no-fee design consultation services so clients can build the sensory space that is best suited to them. Whether for autistic individuals, seniors or an elementary school setting, let’s think through the design and equipment right for you.

When creating a sensory space, one of the first steps you should take is to decide how much space you’ll have to work with. If you only have a small corner in a room or a mobile cart to deck out, the equipment you’ll look for will vary in comparison to if you have a whole room. Regardless of how much space you have, creating a sensory room will have significant benefits for both children and adults.

Tactile equipment

Having items that a person can touch is essential in a sensory space. Try to include a variety of different touch experiences such as soft sponges, prickly pinecones, gooey silly putty or slime, kinetic sand, finger paints and squishy balls. Any item that offers an unusual tactile experience can be perfect for a sensory room. If you have space to play with, consider installing a tactile wall mural or panel. These tools are often done for you so there’s no need to go searching for items that might fit the bill.

A tactile wall mural, tile or panel features a variety of textures, colours and styles and will double as fun artwork for the space. These pieces can be mounted on a wide variety of surfaces, allowing you to customize the sensory space you are creating.

Calming equipment

One of the most common uses of a sensory room is to help visitors calm down and relax. Equipment like dim lights, fiber optic lighting, and gentle music are all soothing for those in the sensory room.

Fiber optic lights are a common choice for anyone creating a sensory room. These lights are often included in string form to offer both tactile and visual stimulation, allowing anyone in the room to benefit from their inclusion in multiple ways. Handling these lights is safe and visitors will often feel calmer and more relaxed after being exposed to them.

Bubble tubes and walls are another great way to provide calming visuals along with a relaxing vibration.

Auditory and visual equipment

A sensory room that allows users to focus on certain senses while reducing the stimulation from others will help them to relax and calm down. Sensory room equipment like a projector or a speaker playing their chosen video, music or sounds can significantly benefit a visitor, particularly those who struggle with processing disorders.

Mobile sensory carts

If space is a concern or you have an individual that would benefit from the ability to bring their sensory space with them, a mobile sensory cart is the perfect option. Whether you’re interested in a ready-made kit or want to design your own, a mobile sensory cart has everything that a sensory room could have, but in a compact and portable cart. This cart can be moved from one space to another allowing the sensory space to move with the user.

Interactive technology is worth the investment

With a very interactive space like a sensory room, it’s no surprise that there are some pieces of technology that will be beneficial. Immersive experiences like virtual reality and interactive projectors are an excellent way to customize the sensory room experience for anyone interested in using them. These interactive and portable technologies are very effective tools for creating both stimulating and calming effects in a wide variety of settings and spaces. A sensory room that includes one or both of these tools will benefit anyone who uses them in a number of different ways.

Sensory room equipment can vary greatly

The best thing about creating a sensory room is that there is no single right way to do it. The best sensory room spaces are created with your client audience in mind. With a wide variety of potential users, completely unique space options and an endless list of equipment choices, no two sensory rooms will ever be alike. After you’ve taken some time to evaluate the needs of those who will be using the space and consider what kind of area you’ll be making use of, you can then narrow down exactly what kind of equipment you want to include in your sensory room.

When it comes to technology, jokes abound about how seniors interact with it. 

But, all laughs aside, the latest advances in technology can offer huge rewards to older adults who are living in retirement and long-term-care homes or attending day programs. They can be especially beneficial to seniors with special needs, including those with dementia.

When seniors interact with these groundbreaking, innovative and state-of-the-art devices, they can receive a remarkable array of mental, physical, social and emotional benefits.

INTERACTIVE AND IMMERSIVE TECHNOLOGIES 

The technologies include a pioneering, award-winning, interactive motion-activated projection system from a British company called OM Interactive.

It beams sounds, images and music from a wide variety of applications onto different surfaces, including  tables, floors, ceilings, even bedside tray tables or bedsheets.

The device is accompanied by hundreds of applications, including various activities and games, that are projected. When users interact with them, they are transported on a  variety of dynamic, engaging, stimulating and broadening journeys of discovery. 

The other remarkable piece of  equipment is the latest advance in virtual reality technology, called the BroomX MK360. Made in Spain, this  all-in-one VR system beams a video that stretches across three walls and onto a ceiling all at once, creating a captivating, fully immersive audio and visual experience.  

Being surrounded on all sides and wherever your head can turn makes you feel like you are right in the moment, gripping the senses of both seeing and hearing. The BroomX  virtual experience  is not only entertaining but engaging cognitively, emotionally and socially.  

Both of these technologies can help foster great joy among older adults, significantly enhancing their overall health and quality of life. Here are seven ways technologies can nurture happiness in older users, which you can learn about by watching the video below, and/or reading the text below it.

STIMULATING THE SENSES

Both technologies deliver multisensory experiences, and stimulating the senses, especially visual and auditory, can be a powerful conduit to joy.

Imagine, for instance, being at a beach, gazing into deep blue water up to the horizon and listening to the rhythmic lapping of waves.

You could heighten the experience by adding in the use of other senses. For instance, what about having a real seashell beside you to touch, or a cool beverage to sip. Some aromatherapy using a diffuser to the fragrance emanating from a real plant could perk up the sense of smell. 

VIRTUAL TOURISM

The second way this technology can be used to foster joy is through what might be called “virtual tourism.”

For older people unable to really travel, whether because of restricted mobility, limited financial resources or other reasons, creating a simulated trip through these technologies could be the next best thing to being there!

Both the interactive, motion-activated and VR systems can open the world to seniors, taking them to new places for new experiences or returning to destinations they have already been to, reliving memorable past experiences that made them smile and will do so again.

In fact, a feasibility study from Ryerson University has shown that virtual tourism provides many of the same positive outcomes as real travel.

The study found participants had a decrease in anxiety and an increase in happiness and excitement. 

As an added benefit, caregivers can also take a much-needed virtual holiday, and enjoy the rewards of relaxation away from their daily workload.

BRINGING NATURE INDOORS

A third way this technology can promote joy is by bringing nature indoors.

We all know the exhilaration created by being in the great outdoors. For people whose access to nature is restricted by their health or mobility limitations, these technologies can bring the outdoors in.

Participants can experience simulated experiences in nature, standing in a forest, watching trees sway, light dapple among the treetops and birds fly, and listening to the chirping of those birds or whistling winds.

  From these sensory experiences created indoors, participants can derive the same benefits as if they were really outdoors.  

SOCIAL CONNECTIONS

These technologies can also promote social connections, both among fellow home residents and with staff.

It’s often much more fun to have joint experiences than solitary ones:  the confidence built by the encouragement of others, the memories made with other people, the giggles induced by shared laughs.

 These technologies offer a range of games and other activities that bring participants together. 

Whether a virtual air hockey game stirs good, old-fashioned competition, or a simulated roller-coaster ride has everyone screaming and tossing their hands in the air with delight, connections are made and happiness is increased. 

 INTERGENERATIONAL INTERACTIONS

Lots of research has demonstrated how enriching interactions among different generations can be for both old and young. These technologies offer activities that they can easily — and happily — participate in together.

Playing the games and activities together can really  reduce the generation gap, offering a variety of shared special experiences for seniors with children, grandchildren, and even great-grandchildren. 

Such experiences can not only boost everyone’s moods, but make return visits from the younger generations to the older feel much more enticing and give seniors things to really look forward to.

CONTROL OVER THEIR ENVIRONMENTS

Both immersive and interactive technologies can give users a real sense of control over their environments  — a feeling they don’t often get living in a retirement or long-term-care home.

Many of the applications beamed by the technologies  are all about cause and effect by the user. 

For instance, with one video, they swipe their hands over floating eggs, causing them to break.   In another, they can step on a coloured ball and watch it splat. Having control over these effects can be very empowering.

NOSTALGIA AND REMINISCENCE

Finally,  strolls down memory lane can do wonders for picking up a mood. Feelings of nostalgia and reminiscences can trigger all sorts of positive memories, bringing memorable moments back to life.

 Motion-activated and immersive technologies can take users back in time, whether to their own actual pasts or to more general times and places that might stir happy memories.

These memories can be triggered by still images, moving videos, familiar sounds or even a virtual visit through Google Street View.

It’s tough getting older, no doubt, but the journey can be made much sweeter with these marvellous technologies. There’s nothing better than seeing joy on the face of an older person, thanks to these systems.

Sensory rooms are becoming much more commonplace in schools and homes. However, sensory spaces are not just for children. In fact, they are equally in demand in adult service settings.

These sensory-focused spaces offer significant benefits to a range of neurologically atypical people. Spaces often include a variety of sensory-stimulating objects such as lights, colorful items, things that make sounds, carefully chosen aromas and other different objects.

Which individuals will benefit from a sensory room?

Although it could be argued that everyone could benefit from a sensory room experience, there are people with a number of different conditions that will find these spaces especially helpful. They include:

• Anyone with a cognitive impairment, such as dementia or Alzheimer’s disease. The world can be a very intimidating place for someone going through the changes that dementia can bring. A sensory room can help ease those struggles by providing a calm and kind space to relax in.
• In acute or long-term-care homes and units. Sensory rooms in these settings can be helpful during a crisis situation that needs de-escalation or prevention.
• In mental health clinics. Spaces where patients can immerse in a therapeutic and stimulantfree environment can be beneficial to the therapy.
• Those with vision, hearing or other sensory impairments. A dark room can be soothing for someone who struggles with vision loss or impairment while interactive activities can help deaf people hone their other senses.  
• Those with developmental disabilities, A well-designed sensory room will provide many opportunities for those with developmental disabilities.
• People with learning difficulties. Offering adults a space where they can take a break from their required activities and focus on learning in a manner that makes sense to them and doesn’t stress them out can help improve learning in their day-to-day lives

Benefits of a sensory room to adults

There are a number of benefits that adults will find when they get the opportunity to experience a sensory space:

Stimulation of the senses

A sensory room is designed to help users focus on and engage with their senses. Spending time in a quiet space that offers activities that they can engage with and explore can help an individual to better understand and interact with their environment outside of the sensory room.

The world is a very stimulating place and allowing an adult to control how much stimulation they get while in the sensory room can carry over some skills in how to manage those moments in the outside world.

Improve and develop communication skills

Some adults have a difficult time communicating both verbally and non-verbally. This is especially true for those with autism. A sensory room that provides interactive activities can help these individuals learn skills that will help them engage and communicate with their peers.

Reduce stress

The world can be quite overwhelming, stressful and unpredictable for an average person. Add to that a neurodivergent disorder and they could easily end up extremely stressed out and unsure of how to deal with it. The ability to spend time in a sensory room can allow the individual to immerse in a very low-stress, safe and controlled space, making the rest of the world easier to deal with when they rejoin it.

Improve ability to focus

Disorders like ADHD can make it difficult for some people to focus on tasks they are working on during the day. A sensory room that has various activities can help an individual to learn concentration skills that will help them to focus on tasks and improve those skills outside of the sensory room.

 Encourage socialization

While a person might struggle to reach out and find common ground with some of the people around them each day, a sensory room can help encourage them to socialize on their terms. Many activities in sensory rooms can be enjoyed both alone and in groups. Allowing visitors to enjoy activities in a safe and stress-free environment can make it easier for them to interact with their peers.

Provide mental and physical relaxation 

Even for individuals without a diagnosed issue, a sensory room can provide them a needed space in which to relax. Whether they’re in the midst of a hard work day, are dealing with a difficult situation in their personal life or are experiencing some sort of physical ailment, the calming effects of a sensory room can provide a necessary break.

Improve creativity

The opportunity to immerse in a space that has no expectations can encourage an individual’s creativity to flourish. Providing activities that will allow the user to engage, explore and have fun can stimulate areas of the brain that spark its creativity.

Sensory rooms in adult-care settings are vital

Although sensory rooms are often thought to be for children, adults who struggle in any aspect of their lives can experience the benefit of sensory rooms. For adults with diagnosed disorders, a sensory room can provide a therapeutic environment in which to work on some specific goals, while others may simply enjoy the ability to disconnect from the pressures of life in a safe and calm space.