Industrial - Bachelor
The Epilight uses warm light colours and specific sounds to accelerate a child’s sleep cycle to the REM stage by increasing the melatonin levels in their brains. This alternative treatment known as sleep therapy decreases the risk of seizure activity and allows children to sleep peacefully without worry.
Epilepsy is one of the most common neurological conditions amongst Australians and it is characterised by recurrent seizures which are caused by a temporary disruption of the electrical activity in the brain. Seizures can be triggered from a variety of sources, but the most common and dangerous is sleep deprivation. Sleep can affect the frequency, occurrence, timing, and length of seizures in epileptics of all ages, however, the most affected are children. Cognitive impairments are associated with childhood epilepsy and can relate to underlying aetiology, abnormal brain structure and epileptic activity. These same cognitive impairments can also negatively impact their IQ, memory, behaviour, and social life.
“…It can have social impacts, financial, employment…it impacts ease of access to other things in life…I think my memory has somewhat been impacted…”
Interview participant with epilepsy
Affects adolescents and children and is often a hereditary condition that can be managed but dangerous if left untreated. This condition is characterised by myoclonic jerks, generalised tonic-clonic and absence seizures which usually occur early in the morning or within a couple hours of awakening.
It is a clinical diagnosis that affects 1:15,700 infants and can lead to a spectrum of disorders ranging from migraines, childhood epilepsy, or even more severe, life-long epilepsy syndromes.
It is the most well-recognised subgroup of generalised epilepsies and specifically refers to other epileptic conditions like Juvenile Myoclonic Epilepsy (JME), Juvenile Absence Epilepsy (JAE), Childhood Absence Epilepsy (CAE), and Generalised tonic-clonic seizures.
These seizures originate in the brains frontal lobe and can trigger unusual movements, vocalisations, or emotional outbursts, particularly during sleep. Patients with this form of epilepsy are likely to manifest forms of depression, anxiety, neuroticism, impaired memory, and social limitations.
This is a severe childhood condition with multiple seizure types which include tonic (stiffening) and atonic (drop) seizures which are often associated with intellectual disability and developmental delays. Adults who have been afflicted with this disease have shown significant difficulties with daily life and social skills.
Lachlan is a determined Industrial Designer with ambitions to create design solutions to improve user experience and their quality of life. His last project, The Epilight, incorporates his own experience with Epilepsy and his design thinking to create a product that can help other, less fortunate children afflicted with the same disease he had, as he believes that the purpose of design is to create better lives for others.