Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
Fig. 6.6
Bathonify remote control
a
Touch panel display,
b
Examples of display window examples
Fig. 6.7
Result of subjects'
answers
6.2.6
Evaluation of Bathonify
In order to verify that the Bathonify system provides an amenity space that bathers
enjoy, we conducted a simple evaluation. Thirteen male subjects ranging from 20 to
35 years old were asked to evaluate the bath system one at a time and experience the
interactive sound, after which each subject completed a questionnaire. The question-
naire asked the subjects to give their impressions about various aspects of the system
on a scale from one to seven: Enjoyable (1-Not enjoyable to 7-Enjoyable), calming
(1-Not calming to 7-Calming), and palliative (1-Not palliative to 7-Palliative). Space
was also made available for them to freely write comments. We set the room tem-
perature at 28 °C and the hot water temperature at 40 °C (the actual temperature
of the water in the bathtub was 38 °C), which are normal bathing conditions. We
used Sound Set 1 and left the bathing time up to each subject's discretion. Figure
6.7
gives the average and standard deviation of the evaluation results.
Figure
6.7
shows that the subjects felt the experience was enjoyable and palliative.
These positive results suggest that the system is efficacious for bathers. Nine out of
the 13 subjects wrote favorable comments about the interactive environment under
the enjoyable aspect. Their comments suggest that the system fulfills its objectives.
Eight subjects who evaluated the calming aspect at three or below felt a sense of
discomfort from the novelty of the experience or that the wave volume was a bit too
loud. Other comments related to sound and sound requests can be handled by the
system through remote control operations or by creating new sound sets.
