Gamified musical breathing exercises for children affected by Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy
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Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Perustieteiden korkeakoulu |
Master's thesis
Author
Date
2018-10-08
Department
Major/Subject
Human-Computer Interaction and Design
Mcode
SCI3020
Degree programme
Master's Programme in ICT Innovation
Language
en
Pages
92 + 21
Series
Abstract
Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD) is the second most common gene disorder that affects predominantly male subjects. The most recent statistics report that, coupled with the Becker muscular dystrophy, it affects 1 out of 7250 male children aged between 5 and 24 years [30]. The disease consists in a progressive degeneration of muscle functionality, usually starting from the lower limbs and followed by the upper ones. Eventually, it affects the respiratory and cardiac muscles leading to a premature death in the late teen or early twenties of the subjects. To postpone the late stage respiratory decline, which eventually forces the children to be subjected to invasive operations such as tracheotomy or dependent on different kinds of electronic equipment for ventilation and coughing assistance, a constant training in the early stage of the disease has proven to improve the life quality and prolong the life expectancy of the subjects [38]. The therapy usually consists in a series of breathing exercises that aim at maintaining the respiratory muscles functionality. However, without the inclusion of an engaging factor there is a significant chance of abandonment of the therapy when the children will move to a different school, as reported by one of the physiotherapists that has been interviewed. The current project aims to tackle this issue by making the system more engaging thanks to the addition of gamification and musical therapy elements. Thanks to different interviews with the stakeholders of the project, many insights were collected and informed the final design. The finished implementation includes a hardware prototype, which senses the breathing pattern of a person (direction, strength and duration) and sends it to a central server, which in turn communicates this data to the game client. Thanks to such architecture the implementation of a multiplayer game, which was mentioned as a desirable feature from physiotherapists, children and parents, is made possible. As for the game itself, it consists in a runner game in which the player needs to collect as many coins as possible to achieve a high-score. It incorporates a leaderboard as a gamification component and an audio track is used as a hint system, suggesting the player when to carry out actions based on the dynamics and the beat of the music. However, the broader vision of the project sees a system which allows a set of devices, each one addressing a specific rehabilitation exercise as controller of the game, to be connected to a central unit. The game could then be played by multiple players, although using a different way to control the main character. The evaluation phase of the current implementation involved children affected by DMD, and the results of this qualitative test suggested that the system has potential, especially thanks to the incorporation of the gamification aspects since they promote competitiveness and re-play. However, the role of music should be better integrated with a careful design of the levels, avoiding to fit many actions in a limited span of time since it makes it difficult to breathe properly for patients with respiratory problems. Nonetheless, it seems to be a first step in the right direction and additional research should be carried out to confirm the potential and explore additional possibilities.Description
Supervisor
McGookin, DavidThesis advisor
Groothuis, MarijkeKeywords
duchenne, gamification, music, serious, gaming
