This project is a spatial audio experience, designed to motivate in-hospital stroke patients to complete physiotherapy upper limb exercises (aka their hands and arms).
This experience will combat two major problems present within stroke wards:
- Physiotherapist Staff Shortages (Yeldham 2020).
- Patient Motivation
This experience resolves these problems because patients will be more engaged with their exercises, and because physio’s are currently unable to spend time with every patient every day (Edwards 2022), this experience will ensure this is not detrimental to the patients.
This experience is designed from teamwork with physiotherapists. Their tried and tested methods are the core of the experience.
The experience will use a combination of spatial audio, alongside physical objects to immerse, motivate and exercise the patient. The experience is accessible from a website, and hospitals will buy access to the experience.
For stroke patients, motivation is one of the determining factors to the speed of recovery (Mayo Clinic Staff 2019), yet it can be difficult for patients to engage with exercises. This why SASR is important.
The experience will have two pathways. Physiotherapists have ensured that specific exercises are included, and their knowledge of patient motivation has been tied into the design.
The experience is designed in a way that patients can participate from their own hospital bed if they wish – this allows the experience to cater for the full spectrum of stroke patients. Those who feel motivated to go the extra mile and complete work outside their normal physio hours, and those who may struggle to engage with their physiotherapist time.
(This experience is not a replacement for the patient’s allotted physiotherapy time).