ASIA PACIFIC – SINGAPORE, MAY 23, 2013 – International fragrance experts Givaudan and JWT Singapore have worked together on a world first – personalized and custom-made "Smell a Memory" kits that help patients suffering from dementia and Alzheimer’s through leveraging the power of scent to stimulate emotional memories among these patients.
As Juhi Kali, ECD of JWT Singapore, explained, the human sense of smell has a powerful connection to memories, most especially those with emotional weight. JWT thus considered using smell to attempt to evoke emotions and memories in patients suffering from these conditions, and utilized certain special ingredients that could stimulate emotional memories and re-awaken the feelings associated with such memories.
The specially crafted kits are personalized for individual patients based on factors including their family history, age, ethnicity and personal experiences. In consultation with rehabilitation experts and therapists, Givaudan perfumers created distinctive scents including "Prayer", "School Days", "Mom’s Cooking" that incorporated ingredients relevant to Singapore, such as Hainanese coffee, commonly-used culinary herbs and spices, and other such aromatic ingredients that could help remind patients of various facets of their lives.
JWT and Givaudan worked with medical staff at Soo’s Nursing Home and another care facility to test these kits in therapy sessions. These staff make use of proven therapies to treat dementia patients with the goal of drawing them out and helping them re-engage with their families and with the world at large – thus making tools such as these critical components of such therapies.
When tested with a number of patients who were often listless and uncommunicative, the "Smell a Memory" kits proved exceedingly powerful, helping many of these patients become more lively and display excitement and even engage therapists and family members in conversation.
Givaudan is planning to extend this successful program to other regions as part of its sustainability program. Givaudan and JWT are also organizing further trials to test these kits at two of Singapore’s biggest hospitals.
