Breatheasy
Role
UX Designer
Time
2020 - 2021
Industry
Healthcare
Website
kardia.com
This is a scary site for anybody.
Imagine how frightening this experience can be for a young child.
Background
Breatheasy is a senior thesis project that aimed to lower the anxiety in children undergoing anesthesia.
The problem
Undergoing anesthesia is incredibly stressfull for children, espicially children between the ages of three and seven. Anesthesiologists struggle getting the mask secured to the childs face, and in some surgeries children have to be sedated to administer anesthesia.
The current solution
The prevailing method employed to lower anxiety is to let the child play a game on an iPad. It is still very common for difficulties to arise due to the childs anxiety with this method.
The breatheasy solution
Breatheasy is an interactive experience that is designed to lower the anxiety in children undergoing anesthesia. Children progress through a series of themed levels, with breathing being the only way to interact with the game
Case study
Pediatric MRI Machines
Standard MRI machine
Getting an MRI scan is also stressfull for children. Over three quarters of children who get MRI scans need to be sedated in order to get a propper scan.
MRI Machine designed for children
Doug Dietz is an industrial designer who wanted to better this dreadfull experience for children. He and his team designed themed enviornments around the MRI machine that engage the childs imagination, and incorporated the machine into these enviornments. The MRI rooms are transformed from bleak, sterile rooms to immersive spaces.
Less than 1% of children who get scans in these MRI machiens have to be sedated.
Children get excited to enter the room and play. Doug even overheard one young girl ask her mom after the scan: "can we come back tomorrow?"
User Experience
Integration
A virtual experience on its own would not be inticing enough to the childs imagination. An element was needed that would tie the physical world to the virtual experience. The mask was chosen as the element to help assosiate the experience and game, as the mask and game were designed with a common theme.
Theme
An underwater theme was chosen for the project. This way, the anesthesiologist could tell the child that they'd need to put on the mask to breathe underwater to play. The mask was designed to look like a fish, and the child is allowed to pick between a few masks at the start of the experience, giving them a small but important sense of control over the experience.
Levels
To keep the child engaged, five themed levels were designed, and the only way to interact with them is through breathing. Breathing triggers animations on the screen, such as the lights turning on in a submarine.
User Testing
Components & code
si7021 Temperature Sensor
This sensor was used to measure respiration by detecting temperature changes when the user exhaled.
Adafruit nRF52382
A lightweight bluetooth low enery board.
3.7V lithium ion battery
This battery was used to power the board.
Enclosure
The enclosure was designed to house the components and connect the mask and hose. It was 3D printed using STL printing.