Tempo
Disciplines Industrial design, CMF, UX design
Completed March 2020
Design team Kelsey Leppek | Rafer Stromme
Personal Contributions Strategy and Research | Industrial Design | CMF Development
A Neuro-Headband for Music Therapy
Tempo is a wearable and app experience that plays music based on neural feedback.
The goal of Tempo is to democratize music therapy techniques and combining these techniques with familiar experiences like listening to music streaming apps or using an exercise app.
Background
Neurologic music therapy leverages music to prompt movement, vocalization, or mental recall.
-Eric Feldman, Music Therapist and founder of Cottonwood Music Therapy, Fort Collins, CO Neurologic Music Therapy
In music therapy, music is paired with traditional therapy methods to help patients promote physical rehabilitation, manage stress, and address cognitive and emotional needs. Tempo was designed specifically with stroke patients in mind, but could benefit a range of patients, including those dealing with dementia, Parkinson’s, and brain injury from an injury.
The music matters.
In music therapy, the music matters. Intrinsic musical qualities, like cadence, rhythm and tempo, determine whether or not a song pairs effectively with a particular therapy, like physical therapy and motor skills exercises. Subjective qualities, like familiarity and emotional associations, make certain music effective for speech, memory, and emotional therapies.
Tempo plays music optimized for music therapy.
The headband combines an electroencephalogram (EEG) with small external speakers positioned in front of the ears that play music. Tempo tailors a music feed for different music therapies based on user input, neural activity, and the kinds of music to which the user responds positively. Music preferences and streaming are controlled app-side,
CMF Development
Initial Interviews
Ideation and Prototyping
Initial strategy ideation
Concept development
Thank you!
Many thanks to our interviewees for generously sharing their
experiences with us, and to the designers at Sonosite
who provided mentorship throughout the project.