A Mobile Augmented Memory Aid for people with Traumatic Brain Injury
Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) occurs when an external mechanical force traumatically injures the brain. The 2010/2011 population-based study shows that the total incidence of TBI in New Zealand has increased to 790 per 100,000 population. Memory impairment is the most common symptom and affects most TBI survivors. Memory impairments resulting from TBI take many forms depending on the nature of the injury. Existing work to use technology to help with memory problems focuses predominantly on capturing all information digitally to enable ‘replaying’ of memories. Other software applications (like calendar that reminders) are designed to assist the average people tracking their schedules. Both are inadequate for supporting TBI survivors. The aim of this research is to build an augmented autobiographical memory system for a mobile device for supporting TBI survivors with their memory problems. I address the lack of information about TBI survivors’ use of digital aids through user studies and interviews. This research includes three studies. The first study is the interview user study, which aims to investigate TBI survivors’ use of their own memory aids/strategies to cope with difficulties caused by memory impairments. The results contribute to develop the conceptual design of the prototype. The second study is the interface user study, which aims to examine the usability of the conceptual design. Findings from this study provide the data and feedback for structuring the implementation of the MyMemory prototype on a mobile device. MyMemory is an augmented autobiographical memory aid specialized for TBI survivors with memory impairments. According to the results from the interface user study, we develop the implementation of the MyMemory prototype. The third study aims to evaluate the effectiveness of MyMemory for improving autobiographical memory for people with TBI. This evaluation study is based on the ABAB case study used in psychology which can provide more accurate outcomes about the evaluation of MyMemory.
Brain Injury, Memory Impairments, Augmented Memory System, Mobile Memory System, Autobiographical Memory System
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