Autism - Bridging the Gap between Science & Art: Exploring Multi-Sensory Environment Rooms (MSE)
Here is a letter from BlissLights regarding the neurological effects of their laser projectors, we offer, in collaboration with the Friendship Circle Bridging the Gap between Science & Art: Exploring Multi-Sensory Environment Rooms (MSE) Innovation through Imagination: Changing the way we view light. 04/08/2014 “Industry is best at the intersection of science and art.” If there was ever a quote that captivates our engineering department, Edward Land of Polaroid totally nailed it! We are a technology driven company—primarily striving to be leaders in laser technology—that designs “artistic” and “unique” lighting experiences with our state of the art Diode Pumped, Solid State(DPSS) laser combined with custom developed multi-phase diffraction holographic optics patented technology. While our engineering department can go on and on about our technology (and confuse our non-engineering staff), let’s cut to the chase, all that technological jargon really just means BlissLights, as a whole, is VERY interested in light research. Bridging in the gap between science and art has inspired us to look into many avenues and projects, but after receiving feedback that our lights seem to help those with sensory disorders, we’re now looking into multi-sensory environment rooms (MSE). We’ve received countless e-mails, letters, and calls in the past about how much people love our lights. It ranges from “wow” to full-blown comments and pictures of how they’ve used them and amazed neighbors. We can’t even begin to express the love and appreciation we feel from all the support, but we’re even more delighted when others can relate to our products in a more personal way. A couple of years ago, we received a letter from a family that had bought one of our lights, and what it said opened our eyes to what we could potentially put our efforts in. We still smile when we read this... One step closer to our goal of bringing happiness to the world through the wonder of light! To add a little more background, BlissLights is registered with the CDRH (Center for Devices and Radiological Health) and takes great precautions to ensure user safety. Because of the nature of our work, we have an awareness of the effects of lasers, the various benefits of light, and the psychology of colors, but we’ve always been particularly more interested in the neurological effects of lights on the brain. An understanding of how the human eye picks up light wavelengths in the visible color spectrum is crucial for what we do. A person can even be blind, but parts of their retina—that doesn’t really have a major role in vision—have specialized photosensitive cells that detect light wavelengths. The information picked up is then sent to the part of the brain that helps regulate the body’s circadian clock and depending on the color wavelength, it can even alter or regulate moods—but that’s not limited to “laser lights”. It’s just how we absorb any kind of light in general: fluorescent; incandescent; LED; sunlight, etc., and each type of lighting affects us differently. Light therapy (exposure to daylight and/or to specific wavelengths of light using polychromatic polarized light/lasers), for example, works on this principle using light to combat depression and other mood disorders. We have kept up with the neurological effects of light/lasers, but we never thought we’d ACTUALLY see a connection between our products and individuals with sensory disorders until it was brought to our attention with that letter and testimonials from others. We’re not “official” light researchers or scientists; we just want to make the world a better place. And if we can help do it with one of our products, we are on the right path! Our opportunity to build a multi-sensory environment room came when we were on our hunt to work on projects outside the company. BlissLights is always looking for a way to give back to a community that has been more than generous to us, but in light of all this, we were thrilled when we came across Friendship Circle, a local non-profit dedicated to helping children with sensory disorders. After speaking with them, we knew we’d be helping out such a great cause and are now excited to collaborate with them to create a multi-sensory environment room with our BlissLights. We have various products that create unique lighting experiences, but primarily the BL 15 (and in the near future the SKY), consist of a double laser that displays thousands of pin-points of light that dance in soft moving patterns, somewhat resembling a star field, onto a blue nebula cloud that seems to have a positive effect on individuals with mood and/or sensory disorders. We have our theories as to why they might calm or relax those with autism or similar neurological disorders. Perhaps it’s because they’re “calming colors” such as blue and green that create serenity within them, or perhaps because they’re soft patterns that captivate and make them forget about their surroundings and other senses—we’ll see and we’ll definitely blog about our experience with the development of the multi-sensory rooms (we haven't started yet, but we're in the planning stages). Even if we don’t find out, we’ll be glad we gave them a little bit of magic through our lights. To learn more about Friendship Circle, click here. PS... Testimonials on BlissLights with Autism, birthing, dying about the ways that BlissLights' soothing effects have been soothing to children with autism, a mother during birthing and another person in the moments of their dying.