SIMFONIK
Humanising Healthcare
Immersive Audio Simulations Transforming Empathy Skills
UNPARALLELED DEPTH OF EXPERIENCE:
Created by a multi-award winning team,
SIMFONIK's emotional immersion places the patient's lived experience at the centre of immersive audio simulations to empower healthcare professionals.
What is SIMFONIK?
SIMFONIK is inspired by the multi-award winning XR experience Within Touching Distance, an artwork that uses immersive XR technology and human touch synchronised to explore the real-life experiences of a patient: from a childhood bedroom to a care home.
Since 2023 the project has won multiple awards, including the Inclusive Innovation Award 2023 (InnovateUK), and was featured at the Prime Minister's Council for Science and Technology as example of best practice of Arts & XR innovation into health.
Different to other Simulation Solutions, SIMFONIK is the world's first arts-led Transformative Simulation Platform, using mindset change and deep learning to address a severe gap in empathy skills across the healthcare workforce.
The immersive audio simulations in SIMFONIK have been carefully developed with Patients, Healthcare Professionals, Researchers and Health Simulation Partners across the UK, to ensure all scenarios accurately reflect the real-world experience of healthcare professions, and the lived experience of patients.
Empowering Healthcare Professionals
Through Award-Winning Immersive Audio Innovation
How does it work?
Using the latest developments in bone-conduction technology, SIMFONIK offers a transformative experience for participants enabling them to experience patient lived experiences first hand.
SIMFONIK is an app that can be used in any mobile device.
Every participant wears bone-conduction headphones.
Simulation scenarios are experienced in pairs*.
No specialist equipment required, just a room with chairs.
No maximum number of participants.
Bone-conduction technology converts sound into mechanical vibrations transmitted through the skin and temporal bone to the cochlea, bypassing traditional air conduction transmitters. This means full embodied immersion, whilst the ears remain open to sustain normal conversations and attentiveness the environment.
This allows SIMFONIK to achieve crisp, clear sound reproduction even in noisy environments, allowing each participant to receive different individualised audio tracks part of the same session.
* an adapted version is also available for participants with specific access needs.
Unique features that set SIMFONIK apart from other simulation models:
Deep Engagement with hard-to-teach skills
2024 pilot participants reported that SIMFONIK's unique emotional depth of engagement addresses empathy with authenticity, and provides professionals with real-world applicable skills after just 90 minutes of Simulation.
Scalable Technology and individualised experience
Unlike other approaches which rely on specialist rooms, expensive equipment, or technical knowhow - SIMFONIK provides every participant with full engagement as active participants in every scenario. No participant is left out.
Patient Experience at the centre of SIMFONIK
All SIMFONIK scenarios are co-created with patients - and therefore create human, real, authentic and embodied representations of real-world lived experience.
SIMFONIK MOBILE APP
