Jamboxx: Interactive Respiratory Therapy through Music and Gaming

Project SummaryAbstract The goal of this project is to develop a novel device for respiratory therapy that uses interactive gaming and music to encourage patient complianceIn order to maintain pulmonary healthmany post operative surgery patients as well as people with quadriplegia and other spinal cord injurieshigh level motor neuron diseases such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosisALSand multiple sclerosisMSand disorders like cystic fibrosis undergo routine respiratory therapyThese therapy techniques are used to help strengthen and stretch the muscles around the lungsexercise the diaphragmand loosen mucus build up to promote improved lung functionImproved lung function can help reduce the incidence of pneumonia and other respiratory illnessa leading cause of mortality among spinal cord injury patients and the most prevalent and most fatal hospital inquired infectionHAIamong post operative patientsThese therapy techniques often lack feedback and incentiverequire the user to depend on an assistantand become strenuous and mundane for users with limited mobility resulting in low patient complianceWe aim to improve patient compliance by adding a gaming component to provide users with a engaging incentive to adhere to their prescribed therapy routineThis work builds on our invention of the Jamboxxa hands free breath controlled digital musical instrument designed for accessibility by users with quadriplegia or other motor neuron diseasesWe aim to extend the functionality of the Jamboxx to create a commercially viable and proven product for improving respiratory therapyThis device has significant potential for improving compliance in both long term outpatient users requiring routine respiratory therapy and short term inpatient users requiring post op respiratory conditioningImproved therapy compliance can lead to improvements in long term outcomes as well as daily functioning for people with spinal cord injuries and other chronic disease requiring respiratory rehabilitationas well as their familiesTo do thiswe will create a product and a suite of mini games with cross platform availability for patient use that will mimic a number of commonly prescribed respiratory therapy techniquesOnce clinical functionality has been establishedthe device will enter into rigorous evaluation in both a hospital and outpatient setting in preparation for a subsequent clinical trial Project Narrative Pneumonia and other respiratory illness is a leading cause of mortality among spinal cord injury patients and surgical post op patientsThe Jamboxx combines tablet based gaming with traditional respiratory therapy techniquescreating an added incentive for patients to adhere to their prescribed therapy routinesThe goal of this device is to improve outcomes for patients requiring both short term and long term respiratory therapy and rehabilitationsubsequently decreasing the incidence of pneumoniabronchitis and other respiratory diseases among these populations