Wearable sensors and a multisensory music and reminiscence therapies application: To help reduce behavioral and psychological symptoms in person with dementia

Dementia is a growing problem and 86% of people affected with dementia acquire behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia (BPSD). BPSD can cause agitation, irritation, stress and frustration, that can potentially lead to devastating consequences. One of the major concerning symptom is agitation which can lead to wandering and occasionally life threatening situations to the affected person and or the caregiver. A mobile multimodal app was developed for the Android platform which would take as input a set of multisensory recorded memories such as videos, photos and music from a special memorable event in the affected person's life and turn them into a multimedia presentation that can be viewed or listened to. 34 healthy recruited participants were asked to wear the Empatica E4 sensor to record the heart rate variability and electrodermal activity of the skin. Data analysis revealed that the participants reacted positively to happy multimedia presentations. Implying a combination of music and reminiscence therapy can have a positive impact in the reduction of stress and agitation.