My 86 year old father is at last going into sheltered accommodation, I am in the process of having this flat decorated and furnished. He listens to music constantly and I want to put the simplest system in for him, he can on occasion use the radio but its usually cd's. So compact speakers and reliable mini all in one. I don't know if he could cope with streaming unless there's a very simple solution with pre sets etc. Suggestions appreciated.
Suggestions please for partially senile music lover.
- Thread starter Ian G
- Start date
Weecrackpot
Frank made me do it.
I think a Bose wave C.D. radio would be good, can be had in Gumtree etc for a pretty reasonable price.
MVV
pfm Member
I was thinking that. I got my missis a Sonus one (Alexa) but I’m not sure how you attach a CD player to it.
Sounds fine, and you could add another if you want but she is happy with one.
Make sure that whatever you get, it’s familiar to him and the same as he was used to before, i.e. cd and radio.
I went through this with my dad. The act of introducing any new technology completely threw him. You have to make it as easy as possible for him.
My 90 year old mother in law bought a Ruark cd/radio all in one and loves it, v easy. Pricey but there are alternatives such as Bose.
I went through this with my dad. The act of introducing any new technology completely threw him. You have to make it as easy as possible for him.
My 90 year old mother in law bought a Ruark cd/radio all in one and loves it, v easy. Pricey but there are alternatives such as Bose.
waxkinglyrical
pfm Member
Tivoli Audio Music System + ?
Big Tabs
looking backwards, going forwards
buttons and easy to load, Bose or something like this
https://www.johnlewis.com/john-lewi...with-cd-player-wireless-connectivity/p3356211
https://www.johnlewis.com/john-lewi...with-cd-player-wireless-connectivity/p3356211
hifinutt
hifinutt
one of these should be easy to use
https://www.google.com/search?q=rob...57j0i512l9.7669j0j15&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8
https://www.google.com/search?q=rob...57j0i512l9.7669j0j15&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8
This came up some while ago and as someone points out above there are specific products that are easy to use and designed for people with the condition. They are also useful for the staff, some patients respond to certain music very well. There's a very touching you tube clip with a chap in the USA who has just gone, sits te immobile and in silence. Then someone puts on the radio and the guy just comes round. "Minnie the Moocher! Oh yeah, it's by Cab Calloway. I like this one" . They then have a conversation.
Weecrackpot
Frank made me do it.
Some good points Steve but there comes a time it’s just gone,
i am caring for a Dementia sufferer at the moment and up till last year or two,
the Wave C.D. radio worked well, I got that for her solely for the simplicity and decent sound at low volumes,
6 presets is more than enough from “Friday night is music night” to radio Scotland and classical channels,
the C.D. for the few ceedee’s when the mood takes her,now it’s gone,
Dementia mind is like a light switch, there are days when I play it for her and it comes to mind and she enjoys it,
then more days now it’s blank, occasionally she forgets even how a light switch works now,
96yrs in a couple of months but sad to see the decline all the same.
i am caring for a Dementia sufferer at the moment and up till last year or two,
the Wave C.D. radio worked well, I got that for her solely for the simplicity and decent sound at low volumes,
6 presets is more than enough from “Friday night is music night” to radio Scotland and classical channels,
the C.D. for the few ceedee’s when the mood takes her,now it’s gone,
Dementia mind is like a light switch, there are days when I play it for her and it comes to mind and she enjoys it,
then more days now it’s blank, occasionally she forgets even how a light switch works now,
96yrs in a couple of months but sad to see the decline all the same.
For my blind and very forgetful 93 year old Mum, I ripped her CD's a few years ago using CDEX (didnt need to worry about album art, detailed tags etc), built a headless Linux mini PC and wrote a small shell script that auto restarts on power on (if she remembers to turn the PC off) and it remembers the last track played on power on.
Tracks are played in a random order.
So its basically one big arsed playlist that cannot die, be killed or stopped and plays over some small powered PC speakers.
She loves it...never has to touch it (aside from turn the sound knob up/down on one of the speakers).
She drops off to sleep during the day in her chair and wakes up and its still going. I actually think the PC hasnt been turned off for years.
If your Dad's music is on CD and you are willing to rip them, I can help with the mini PC setup (if needed) and provide the simple script, if this solution appeals.
Peter
PS. In fact, to make it really simple, I can provide you with a USB stick image from which Linux can boot. You can do your ripping from Windows running on the PC (if thats your bag) and I can set the USB boot to mount the windows volume where the music is (say make a D: drive just for the music)... or if you are ok with Linux then just install as normal
Tracks are played in a random order.
So its basically one big arsed playlist that cannot die, be killed or stopped and plays over some small powered PC speakers.
She loves it...never has to touch it (aside from turn the sound knob up/down on one of the speakers).
She drops off to sleep during the day in her chair and wakes up and its still going. I actually think the PC hasnt been turned off for years.
If your Dad's music is on CD and you are willing to rip them, I can help with the mini PC setup (if needed) and provide the simple script, if this solution appeals.
Peter
PS. In fact, to make it really simple, I can provide you with a USB stick image from which Linux can boot. You can do your ripping from Windows running on the PC (if thats your bag) and I can set the USB boot to mount the windows volume where the music is (say make a D: drive just for the music)... or if you are ok with Linux then just install as normal
GaryT
pfm Member
I got one of these for my dad when he went into care, suffering from vascular dementia. It was simple enough to use, with just a skip track function, and switches on/off by either raising or lowering a flap on the top. I loaded it up with rips of his favourite artist's CDs, and he seemed to enjoy it.
https://dementiamusic.co.uk/index.html
https://dementiamusic.co.uk/index.html
My Mum cant remember what she has listened to (except for maybe that Irish Adonis Daniel O'Donnell ) so whenever I visit (twice a week) she insists I am magically adding in new tracks.
I go along with it and tell her I can connect remotely to add the tracks.. Hehe.
Peter
This sounds very interesting as he's got hundreds of CDs, if you only rip the music and don't require artwork etc does this speed the process up ? I'll have a read up upon your suggestions as a never ending random stream of music would work well.
Thank you for input and offer of assistance.
One of his issues is people 'breaking' into his flat and taking stuff, three phone chargers, remote controls etc, I have no idea where he puts them or why.