Naidex success for intelligent and stimulating Danish interactive music cushion

Danish-developed cushion Inmu, which stands for “interactive music,” received very positive feedback from healthcare professionals and clients after its debut at Naidex this year.

Launched in 2017, Inmu was designed to help people with dementia feel relaxed and calm. It is the brainchild of Inmu founders Anders Hansen and Toni Marquard, who sought to incorporate artificial intelligence into their product to creative an interactive experience for users.

Speaking at Naidex 2019, Anders Hansens, CEO of Inmu, told AT Today: “Inmu is something we invented because my mother-in-law suffered with dementia for many years and we wanted to create a product to help her that was beautiful and simple.

“From our research, we discovered that many people with mental disabilities find it difficult to figure out how to switch things on and off and so we set a challenge for ourselves: to make our product as simple to use as possible.

“With the triangle musical instrument, you can pick it up and use it immediately, so we wanted to do the same sort of thing with our product.”

An intuitive product, Inmu works by translating touch and movement into soft vibrations, which are stimulating for clients. In the same way, depending on how the user moves the cushion, the sounds will mimic the user’s actions to create an interactive experience.

There are currently two Inmu products available – The inmuRELAX and the inmuDANCE.

inmuRELAX provides soft sounds and vibrations for clients, which gives people a sense of closeness and safety. It helps people with dementia, unrest and stress.

Whereas, inmuDANCE features more upbeat sounds, which promotes happiness and pleasure. This is useful for cognitive and movement therapy, sensory stimulation and increasing arousal.

Anders added: “When a cat purs, it is very stimulating for us and what’s more stimulating is that the cat purs at its own will. It’s something we learned in the design process: when something has some kind of intelligence, people respond to this positively.

“That’s why when you stroke Inmu, it reacts to what you do. The music changes when you touch it and that’s why our product is unique. We are the first company in the world to develop this interactive music. “

Although initially designed for people with dementia, Inmu has also positively affected other users and segments, such as young children with autism, care homes and psychiatric wards.

“We had some very positive feedback from a young boy with autism who used Inmu as he had difficulty sleeping at night, so he used inmuRELAX at night-time to fall asleep,” the CEO added.

Inmu was also shortlisted for the Naidex Professional Award 2019, which recognises the innovation that has made an invaluable contribution towards the healthcare profession.

Having attended Naidex for the first time, Anders found the exhibition interesting and exciting, with a great opportunity to meet many new people, like healthcare professionals, clients and retailers.

“Naidex has been so exciting for us and being nominated for the Professional Award was a wonderful achievement for us,” said Anders. “Both healthcare professionals and clients have loved our product at the show. We’ve also had interest from different councils, nursing homes, private companies and care homes.

“We will definitely come to Naidex in the future.”

In the future, Inmu hopes to continue expanding awareness of its products in different segments as well as gather feedback as to how effective its product has been in these different areas.

After gathering these insights, the company will be able to develop new versions of Inmu to help transform the lives of more clients.