We have just announced the winners of our second ”Designing for the Future” competition held in conjunction with the University of Brighton. The students tackled many issues likely to affect us as we get older including dementia.
Chloe Meineck designed The Hub, a multi sensory device which stores electronically the soundtrack of a person’s life including favourite music and maybe even people’s voices and ambient sounds. These can be accessed randomly by pulling the differently shaped wooden handpulls. The idea is to create a shared and engaging reminiscence activity for a dementia sufferer and their families.
Current research about dementia suggests that favourite music can help evoke strong memories about people, places and events which might otherwise be difficult to access.
This product is very appealing and is designed to become a precious possession. Not only is The Hub attractive, it also aims to encourage interaction between someone suffering from dementia and their family, doing for sound memories what Sarah Reed has done for photographs with Many Happy Returns 1940s.