Automatic reminiscence therapy for dementia

Abstract

With people living longer than ever, the number of cases with dementia such as Alzheimer's disease increases steadily. It affects more than 46 million people worldwide, and it is estimated that in 2050 more than 100 million will be affected. While there are no effective treatments for these terminal diseases, therapies such as reminiscence, that stimulate memories from the past are recommended. Currently, reminiscence therapy takes place in care homes and is guided by a therapist or a carer. In this work, we present an AI-based solution to automate the reminiscence therapy. This consists of a dialogue system that uses photos of the users as input to generate questions about their life. Overall, this paper presents how reminiscence therapy can be automated by using deep learning, and deployed to smartphones and laptops, making the therapy more accessible to every person affected by dementia.