Tala Box: an Interactive Embedded System to Accompany Patients with Cognitive Disorders

Given the lack of drugs to treat cognitive deficit disorders, non-pharmacological approaches have become popular to address these pathologies. In particular, music therapy has been successfully used with Alzheimer's patients to improve their mood and functional abilities. The Tala Sound project studies whether non-Western music from the southern regions of India can be used to improve the mood and functional abilities of Western people suffering from Alzheimer's disease. This traditional style of music, called Carnatic music, is based on specific rhythm sequences, called “talas”, that have an irregular rhythm compared to the ones found in Western music. In this paper, we describe the Tala Box, a new multimedia sensory device with which patients can interact while a Carnatic song is being played. The motivation for the development of this embedded system is the intent, in addition to the unusual nature of the music played, to use motor and cognitive stimulation to better engage Alzheimer's patients and, hopefully, improve their mood and mental state. Preliminary testing with healthy seniors has shown great interest in the Tala Box.