D-Aquarium: A Digital Aquarium to Reduce Perceived Waiting Time at Children's Hospital

Abstract

Patients waiting for long to use medical services become more physically and psychologically anxious than do people waiting to use general services. Since children feel more anxiety and fear in a hospital, it is necessary to reduce their perceived waiting time by disturbing their awareness of time and dispersing their attention. We present the D-Aquarium, a computer-based digital aquarium that provides psychological stability to pediatric patients and reduces their perceived waiting time by using distractions to alleviate their psychological anxiety and interfere with their perception of time.