The Tumbler is a tactile audio-based interface for people with dementia and their informal caregivers to play everyday sounds at home.
People with dementia and their partners living at home need support with recreational and social activities that provide positive emotions and meaningful experiences. Listening to everyday sounds or soundscapes evokes memories of the past, everyday conversations and positive feelings in people with dementia. To enable these positive effects of sound in home environments, we designed the Tumbler as a tactile audio-based interface for people with dementia and their informal caregivers to play everyday sounds at home. The Tumbler provides intuitive interactions with personal audio files and soundscapes, encouraging exploration and inviting interaction. The Tumbler is designed in a way that avoids complex tasks because users cannot make mistakes and each interaction activates an appropriate sound or soundscape.
The Tumbler has a simple and modern aesthetic so that it fits well into everyday home environments. It comes with a docking station to charge the portable speaker. The docking station also includes an additional interface to adjust the volume, select a specific sound set or even record new sounds.
Users can interact with the Tumbler by holding the device in their hands and spinning, shaking, rolling, tilting or tumbling.
(a) The Tumbler is in sleep mode when the speaker is facing down.
(B) Tilting the speaker in any other direction activates the next set of everyday sounds, and pointing the speaker up plays the background sounds.
(C) The story cues are activated when the user shakes the Tumbler.
(D) Tumbling or tilting the Tumbler sideways triggers a sound event.
(E) The user can select the next or previous sound event by rolling it left or right.