World’s First Ambient Experience Suite Opens

July 26th, 2005

The Ambient Experience suite uses Philips' lighting and consumer electronics to create a welcoming and patient-friendly environment for children undergoing medical scans. Featuring a Philips Brilliance CT (computed tomography) scanner in a room with curved walls, it lets young patients choose a theme - or 'ambient environment' - for the room by waving a radio frequency card over a reader to project cartoons and animation themes onto the walls and ceiling using Philips technology. They can also use the Kitten Scanner.

Designed specifically for children scheduled for a CT scan, the Kitten Scanner will let them 'scan' a stuffed elephant or their own toys at the touch of a button. Animation appears on a screen that shows children what doctors are looking for inside the toy and tells them a story about each one. The aim is to show them how the machine works and help ease any anxiety they may be feeling.

"About one-third of children scanned require sedation because they are unable to relax enough for a successful diagnostic exam," said Dr. John Anastos, chairman of the department of radiology at Lutheran General. "This can add six to eight hours of recovery time to a procedure that could be completed in 15 minutes. But when the child is relaxed, the need for sedation or repeat exams is reduced, which in turn helps keep a young patient's radiation doses to a minimum."

The Ambient Experience CT suite is outfitted with a Philips Brilliance 16-slice CT system configured for pediatric imaging capable of producing diagnostic images of advanced motion-sensitive medical imaging applications, such as pulmonary and short-breath hold cardiac studies.

The Ambient Experience concept draws on expertise throughout Philips - in design, medical systems, lighting, consumer electronics and semiconductor technology - to create a friendly and reassuring environment tailored to each patient's individual needs. By building on the promise of the Philips brand - to deliver products that are designed around the user, easy to experience and advanced - it is the only company able to bring Ambient Experience to the marketplace.

Ambient Experience recently won a gold medal for the Philips Design Medical Team in the annual Industrial Design Excellence Award (IDEA). The contest is run independently by the IDEA and sponsored by BusinessWeek magazine.