Tactile Dialogues

Tactile dialogues keeping dementia patients in touch with their families... 

Tactile Dialogues is a textile object in the form of a pillow with integrated vibration elements that react to touch (Figure 7.1). To develop this embodied smart textile service, prototypes of the pillow were produced together with an elder care provider. 

Figure 7.1 Person with dementia and a family member interacting with Tactile Dialogues. Photo Wetzer and Berends.

Table 7.2 Overview of Tactile Dialogues service interface during the customer journey... 

Elder care manager (decisionmaker) Experience service value and better decision Try, ask questions, personalise, and buy 1. Representative visits care home Setup demonstrator and convince customer Dementia knowledge and technical support Tactile Dialogues company... 

Multiple families of people with dementia Decision whether to use pillow during visits Try, ask questions about own situation 3. Tactile Dialogues information meeting Explain about pillow, demonstrate Information about product and service Elder care provider... 

Elder care manager Receive a working pillow Explain problems with pillow to maintenance 8. Maintaining and recycling Tactile Dialogues Remove and replace broken parts Small maintenance on location Tactile Dialogues company... 

Give dirty pillowcases away Pick up dirty pillowcases from (care) home 9. Washing Tactile Dialogues Wash pillow when dirty or repair when broken Pillow is picked up and returned ... 

ScheUe, K.J., et al., 2015. Tactile dialogues personalization of vibrotactile behavior to trigger interpersonal communication. In Proceedings of the Ninth International Conference on Tangible, Embedded, and Embodied Interaction. ACM, New York, USA, pp. 637—642. 

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