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Supporting family bonds with hospitalized babiesAn embodied online visitation for NICU newborns and families 
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When a newborn is hospitalized in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU), families often have limited opportunities for physical contact, which may lead to difficulties in the formation of healthy attachment and increase the risk of postpartum depression. We propose an Embodied Online Visitation System to support embodied bonding between babies and their families across physical distance. Unlike standard online visitation, which only provides visual access to the baby, our system delivers synchronized heartbeat vibrations—matched to the baby’s actual heart rate—through a chest-held device. This evokes the feeling of holding the baby while watching a live video. Our system offers a supplementary way for families to feel connected even when face-to-face visitation is not possible. By enhancing the sense of closeness and reassurance, it may help nurture emotional well-being and attachment. This technology offers a gentle way to maintain the parent-child bond beyond the limits of time and physical distance.
[1] A. Murata, Y. Toya, K. Komazaki, A. Matsumoto, G. Sotodate, J. Watanabe, M. Akasaka. “Exploring an embodied interaction system to support the bond between hospitalized newborns and parents in the NICU,” in Proc. the 29th Annual Conference of the Virtual Reality Society of Japan, 2A1–12, 2024. (in Japanese)
[2] A. Murata, K. Komazaki, Y. Toya, A. Matsumoto, G. Sotodate, M. Akasaka, J. Watanabe. “Supporting family bonds with hospitalized NICU extremely preterm infants through an embodied online visitation system,” in Proc. the 24th International Conference on Interaction Design and Children, 2024. (accepted)
Aiko Murata, Sensory Resonance Research Group, Human Information Science Laboratory