Alexa-Enhanced Chair Helps Alzheimer’s Patient Enjoy Books Again

Alexa-powered speakers are a nice addition in the home of a tech lover. They definitely make life easier, although they’re not essential to one’s living. Unless you’re in the position of Alzheimer’s patient Jacinta Dixon. For her, an Alexa-enhanced smart chair has made all the difference.

Jacinta has a rare form of Alzheimer’s that messes up her visual processing skills, eventually leading to dyslexia. For a person who loves books, this can be quite hard to overcome.

Luckily, there’s tech that can help with that. Three companies realized they could make Jacinta’s dream of escaping in the world of books when she retires a reality.

Design Partners studio, Accenture and Amazon imagined the Magic Chair, a piece of smart furniture. From afar, the Magic Chair looks like your ordinary chair, although with clear Scandinavian touches, great color and texture.

If you come closer, you will see however, that there are three buttons in one of the armrests. Each of them has a different function. One can access the radio, the other can play music and finally, the third one plays an audiobook. Jacinta may not be able to read a book easily but she can hear one.

Each button has a different texture so the woman can easily associate them with the various activities. In this way, remembering which is which will happen thanks to muscle memory, not cognitive functions.

There are also custom-built “skills” that Jacinta can trigger through the buttons, instead of chosen words.

Will the Magic Chair turn into a series? The answer is no or at least not right now, as the project was part of a TV series called Big Life Fix in Ireland.