The sonic environment in senior living is comprised of all the sounds everyone in a care setting hears all day, every day. Those sounds—which are both enjoyable and irritating—can impact the health and behavioral outcomes of older adults, particularly people living with dementia who are disproportionately susceptible to auditory overstimulation. During this webinar, you’ll hear how Garden Spot Village in New Holland, PA, partnered with a sonic treatment composer and a gerontological researcher to study whether purposeful sonic environments can help reduce the stresses associated with declining physical ability and memory loss. The partners will describe the design, execution, and outcomes of their research and share their suggestions for using the power of sound to improve quality of life for older adults.
Experts
Dr. Abushousheh is an Organizational and Environmental Gerontologist and Researcher Associate for The Center for Health Design. With combined expertise in architecture, organizational development, gerontology and applied research, Addie advances comprehensive and translational agendas related to quality assessment and performance improvement for aging and dementia in the continuum of care. In addition to publishing and presenting, Addie is a tri-chair of the Facility Guidelines Institute’s residential document group, maintains an adjunct faculty appointment at Kent State University, is a member of the Moving Forward Coalition, is a Board Member for IDEAS Institute, and serves as an Advisor to Abacus Institute and The AIA’s Design for Aging Knowledge Community.
Jeff McSpadden is co-founder and CEO at Composure, a digital well-being platform for senior living communities helping improve quality of life, care and communication for residents and care teams through purposeful use of music and sound. As an entrepreneur, technologist and life-long musician and composer, Jeff has dedicated himself to the pursuit of sound as a vital ingredient to human thriving. Prior to launching Composure, Jeff’s 15-year career as a composer including writing and producing original music for film, television, and advertising with clients such as MGM, NBC, CBS, PBS, HBO, and AMC as well as brands ranging from Mercedes-Benz, Verizon, Progressive, Toshiba, and Ford.
Melody Karick is the Personal Care Administrator at Meadow View Memory Support at Garden Spot Village. She is an active board member of Dementia Friendly Lancaster and specializes in educating local businesses. She is Certified as a Dementia Practitioner, Montessori Dementia Care Professional, as well as Coach, Trainer, Engagement Leader and Consultant with Positive Approach to Care. Melody is passionate about maintaining normalcy, living each day with purpose and focusing on the strengths of each person life for those living with dementia.