How it started:
We started with a patient's wish to be able to play the cross flute again like he was able to before he started cancer treatments.
The Dream
Background:
People with damaged salivary glands report many effects of having less or no production of saliva anymore.
Some of those effect but not all are:
-dry mouth
-problems with sleeping
-problems with talking
-problems with eating
-teeth decay
etc.
-dry mouth
-problems with sleeping
-problems with talking
-problems with eating
-teeth decay
etc.
Interviews:
At the discovery phase of our project, I conducted user interviews in order to get a better understanding of the problem.
Questions:
What are the problems you have?
What are the problems you want solved the most?
What are current solutions?
What makes the current solutions inadequate for you?
Brainstorm:
What do we think is the problem?
What are different solutions we think about?
What is the context and anatomy we have to work with?
What are different solutions we think about?
What is the context and anatomy we have to work with?
Low fidelity testing:
I usually start the process with low fidelity testing. This is the way I iterate through many options quickly.
To purpose was to find a position, material, size and shape that was comfortable in the mouth
First we tried to determine comfortable positions with the use of marsmallow shapes and tried out the limits of the size in those positions
“De wang is absoluut de betere plek. Je gehemelte is druk gevoelig en interacteert veel met de tong.”
Drs. D.C. Koper
MKA-chirurg Onderzoeker
MKA-chirurg Onderzoeker
After we had an idea of possible positions and sizes we made different shapes in soft and rounded plastic
Choosing a solution:
We choose to work out a solution where a dissoluble mass placed in the cheek will provide moisture in the mouth.
We did research on dissoluble masses and decided to use gelatin
Making different masses with gelatin
We researched recipes of gelatin and made masses with diferent proportions
Testing the mouthfeel
User tests:
Does it make the wish possible?
Does it make the wish possible?
Creating a mould
We created a mould with a 3D printer to reproduce the optimal size and shape of the gelatin mass
Results:
Wish fulfilled
The patient can play the cross flute uninterrupted for 7 minutes with the use of Cheeky . We want to extend this time frame to 20 minutes so that playing classical flute solo's are again a possibility.
What have I learned from this project?
We feared that we didn't have enough knowledge of dissoluble masses to create a solution
How did we overcome them?
We asked experts on this field for their input and we tested every hypothesis and development step
We asked experts on this field for their input and we tested every hypothesis and development step
The product
Team
