E-LOLLIPOP
2
help regain the sense of taste
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+
Private
Portable
Efficient
Taste Test
Check the health of the tongue
Tracking
Real-time tongue health
Treatment
Therapy to regain taste
Scheduler
Make an appointment to see a doctor
Desk research
450
400
350
300
200
150
100
50
0
Info on the mechanisms of loss of sense
Info on recovering the sense
Mental support
Check how others are doing
Info on recovering from COVID-19
To support the family
Info on parosmia
Info on COVID_19 in general
Networking
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60
100%
80%
60%
40%
20%
0%
Self-Report
Direct-Measure
Prevalence
K=223
K=18
0.00
0.25
0.50
0.75
1.00
10
20
30
40
50
Analysis shows that the prevalence of taste loss is higher when measured directly than by self-report.
People's self-measurement of taste is inaccurate
People are concerned about physical health and mental health
The top three areas are the mechanisms of sensory loss, how to recover the senses, and mental support.
Long process to restore the sense of smell and taste
The median recovery time is 11.5 days.
In two weeks, 58% of the patients have an olfactory recovery and in a month 77%.
Problem Statement
The Risks of loss of smell & taste
Malnutrition
When the sense of smell and taste declines, meals lose their appeal. Eating too little can put people at risk for malnutrition, dehydration and unhealthy weight loss.
Depression
A lack of appetite combined with an inability to smell pleasurable scents may contribute to depression.
Danger
People can’t tell when foods have spoiled, and also may not be able to smell fire and smoke, natural gas, or harmful chemicals in their life.
Field research
Difficulties in traditional taste-training
After my field research, the doctor will evaluate the user's physical health, rule out other reasons for the loss of taste or smell, and then further observe the user's oral area, The patient is then tested for taste or smell.
West China College of Stomatology, Sichuan University
Hospital examination process is cumbersome
When I visited the oral mucosal hospital, the doctor introduced that there is currently no medical equipment related to restoring taste in the hospital.
Chengdu Gleneagles Hospital
Doesn't have medical equipment to help restore
Background Research
1.6 million people who had covid lost their sense of smell and taste.
With the spread of the virus, more and more people are getting Hyposmia(loss of smell) & Ageusia(loss of taste) after being diagnosed with covid-19. Now, doctors and scientists are researching how to help people regain smell and taste.
Long covid is a wide range of new, returning, or ongoing health problems a lot of people can experience four or more weeks after being infected with the virus that causes covid-19.
The common symptoms are loss of taste and smell.
Design Goal
Andrew Ray 30th
Pain Points
No taste for more than three weeks
Have bad mood because can't taste.
Frustrated without a sense of taste
Goals
Restore taste
Stay healthy
Needs
Need guidance on restoring taste
Need to check the taste status at any time
“Losing my sense of taste makes me lose my appetite”
Enhance well-being by restoring sensory experiences
🤧
😵💫
I feel like my tastebuds have changed
Things aren’t going to taste right, It pretty much tasted like cardboard
I feel that my sense of taste is weakened and I have no appetite
I'm staying home waiting for the taste to come back and I don't know what to do to help it come back
Type
Thesis Project
Duty
UX Designer
Tools
Figma
Rhino
Arduino
Time
2020
Technology investigation
Electronic tongue uses electrical currents to simulate digital flavors
Circuit level
Receptor level
Perceptual level
Artificial taste system
Human taste system
SENSORY
PANEL
Taste cell
Brain analysis
Tongue
Target user
Electronic Sensor
Taste Sample
Detect
Software Analysis
Report
ELECTRONIC
TONGUE
The Work-Flow of Electronic Tongue
COVID-19
post-pandemic
New lifestyle
New
healthy
Long term
Epidemic
Isolation
Surgical mask
WFH
Teleconferencing
Body
Mental
Risks
taste test
Online-inquiry
See Doctor
new technology
PCR detection
intelligent instrument
Recover
Diagnosed
high sensitivity
Easy to fabricate
Fever or chills
Symptom
sequelae
New loss of taste or smell
Congestion or runny nose
Cough
Sore throat
electronic tongue
component analysis
response time
Inefficient
inconvenient
Reservation
malnutrition
Food poisoning
depression
disorder
ageusia
foul
rancid
sour
metallic
virtual taste
sensitivity
taste Buds
Tongue
Sour
Salt
Bitter
Umami
smell test
digital taste
Sweet
Treatement
Metal Sensor
Ideation
who are inability to taste
Desirability
viability
new business opportunity
Feasibility
Ecletronic Tongue
Opportunities
Difficulties when using traditional treatments
Traditional taste recovery takes a long time and is easy to make paitients feel boring
Traditional taste restoration is achieved by improving the diet structure, but some patients are allergic to some foods or sore throat making it difficult to swallow food, and have physical discomfort and ingest certain elements of the food.
The traditional recovery effect is not obvious. The patient cannot reconcile memory with its sense of taste.
Why our product provide a better experience
Our products are more portable, saving users the time of commuting to the hospital and the need to prepare ingredients for different tastes. Portable products allow users to take anywhere at any time.
Our products are safe and effective, providing currents below,
Our products provide targeted recovery of the five taste buds, making treatment more fun and effective.
What features do we offer that are unique and valuable?
Real-time tracking of the recovery state of the user's sense of taste, allowing users to pay more attention to health
Provide users with three modes of treatment to make treatment more personal
Provide a taste recovery experience for different taste buds, the current will act on different parts of the tongue to stimulate the corresponding taste buds
Opportunity area
How might we create a taste revolution and bring back the sense of taste in patients.
key insights
Several medical devices to help regain
It was found that there are currently no medical devices in the hospital to help patients recover their lost sense of smell and taste after contracting Covid-19.
Lost Tsate > Lost Smell
7% lost their sense of taste, 4.5% lost their sense of smell.
Convalescence Of taste> Smell
Average time to regain taste is 11.5 days. The average time to restore the sense of smell is 7 days.
Package Design
Exploded Design
Interface Design
Interaction touch point
Font view
press up
press down
Digital Interface
Anticlockwise rotation
clockwise rotation
End view
Tongue Sensor
Digital Screen
Rotatable Taste Changer
Help Regain Sense of Taste
High-frequency use of the product, engages the patient's mind in evoking the sensation and helps the patient recover the sense of taste faster.
Provide the intensity of the five basic flavors: sour, sweet, bitter, salt and umami. Helps patients get treatment on every area of their tongue.
Provide Different Flavors
Monitor the extent of recovery
Monitor the status of user recovery and provide users with a level of recovery, let users know the state of physical health.
E-lollipop helps people test taste and stimulate tongue to restore sensory
E-LOLLIPOP
Solution
Prototype
Making the experience more customized
E-lollipop can provide users with three different levels of training, from simple training to complex training. During the treatment, the user can adjust the amount of current released to control the intensity of the receptive taste buds.
Modes
Flavors
Current Levels
level 1
Electronic tongue sensor:
Sensors are devices that receive signals or stimuli and respond, from where electrical currents from the taste buds come in contact with the user's tongue.
Simple Mode:
This therapeutic mode releases one taste bud current at a time. Help users deepen the memory of taste by feeling independent taste buds
Daily Mode:
This treatment mode releases two kinds of taste buds at the same time at a time. Mixed taste buds can stimulate the user's nerves and better restore taste buds.
Training Mode:
This treatment mode releases three kinds of taste buds at the same time at a time. The training mode deepens the user's memory nerve and helps restore the sense of taste better.
Digital screen:
The greater the brightness, the greater the level, Values from level 1-level 5
umami signal :
Represents the release of Umami buds, and brightness represents the intensity of the taste
Bitter signal:
Represents the release of bitter buds, and brightness represents the intensity of the taste
Salty signal:
Represents the release of salt buds, and brightness represents the intensity of the taste
sour signal:
Represents the release of sour buds, and brightness represents the intensity of the taste
Sweet signal:
Represents the release of sweet buds, and brightness represents the intensity of the taste
Knob:
The greater the angle of the switch, the greater the brightness of the bulb, the LED screen text changes with it
User journey
start treatment: Place the Elollipop in your mouth and wrap the sensor with your tongue.
Adjust the intensity: Rotate the bottom of the ELollipop to adjust the degree of electronic taste released
View the report: Use the Application to view real-time recovery status reports after treatment
Switch on device: Turn on the device by pressing the bottom of the Electronic Lollipop
Connect with app: Turn on Bluetooth to connect with the device
75%
Select the mode: Rotate the bottom of the Elollipop to select the treatment mode
User testing
Select current release amount
Simple mode
Start treatment
Adjustment of current release
Finish Treatment
Re-treatment
Exerciese mode
Training mode
Choose the level of taste
Select the taste mode
Start treatment
3
Adjust the level of taste
4
1
2
User interface design
reflection
The development of technology gives us the opportunity to choose new products and lifestyles, and human-centered interaction design enables people to better explore and adapt to the new world. With the support of technology, future medicine will no longer be limited to traditional therapies, and inclusive emerging medical interactions will allow more patients to enjoy the treatment. For example, in Elollipop, a taste simulation project, we provide a new way to safely stimulate a taste for patients with taste loss who cannot eat spicy food. I really enjoyed the process of continuous exploration in this project. After this taste simulation, I began to think about whether we must use objects with real properties to give us sensory feedback in the future. Nerve stimulation has been able to allow people to get sensations without objects, and the development of technology has also provided different implementations for sensory stimulation. In the future immersive virtual world, what kind of sensory simulation solution will be the best choice? How should human-centered design be applied? These questions fascinate me deeply. I hope that at the graduate level, I can go deeper into this field and explore the world of highly immersive sensory simulations.
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