Description
Most conversations about dementia care environments focus on what can be seen: light, materials, color, and layout. This session asks a different set of questions. How does the environment sound at night, and what does that mean for the people who live and work there?
Over 70% of residents living with dementia experience chronically poor sleep. The downstream consequences are well-documented: elevated fall rates, behavioral escalations, and increased psychotropic medication use. Of all the contributors to poor sleep in dementia care, the nighttime sonic environment is one architects and designers can directly influence, yet it remains one of the least examined design variables in the field.
This session brings together a design strategist and researcher, a dementia care educator with deep operator experience, and an applied science practitioner working at the intersection of sleep science and dementia care. Together, they will examine the nighttime care environment as an interconnected system, one where acoustic conditions, spatial decisions, and sound-based intervention are interdependent rather than isolated disciplines.
Attendees will leave with a framework for treating the sonic environment as a design variable with the same rigor as lighting, materials, and wayfinding, grounded in clinical evidence that sleep-supportive design produces measurable outcomes with direct implications under current regulatory guidelines.
Learning Objectives
- Identify key acoustic and environmental factors that contribute to sleep disruption in dementia care settings and explain their impact on resident health and safety outcomes, including fall risk and behavioral escalation.
- Evaluate how spatial layout, material selection, and building systems influence nighttime acoustic conditions affecting sleep quality and overnight care stability in memory care environments.
- Apply evidence-based acoustic and sound management strategies to support restorative sleep and reduce safety risks for residents living with dementia.
- Integrate interdisciplinary perspectives, including design research, clinical memory care practice, and sleep science, into the planning and design of nighttime care environments to improve resident welfare and operational outcomes.
Speakers
Jeff McSpadden
Co-Founder and CEO, Composure Inc.
Jeff McSpadden is co-founder and CEO of Composure, recipient of the 2025 Gold Award in Quality from McKnight's Tech Awards and the company behind published clinical research on sound, sleep, and dementia care. Composure delivers original, evidence-based soundscapes to long-term care communities, offering a non-pharmacological approach to improving sleep and health outcomes for older adults living with dementia. Before founding Composure, Jeff built a 25-year career as a musician and composer, writing and producing original music for film, television, and advertising, with clients including MGM, NBC, CBS, PBS, HBO, and AMC. He brings that creative foundation to a focused professional mission: establishing sound as a recognized, evidence-backed driver of human health.
Addie Abushousheh, PhD
Founder and Strategic Advisor, AdvantAges by Design, LLC
Dr. Addie Abushousheh is a strategic advisor working at the intersection of strategy, research, and design, with a focus on aligning purpose, process, people, and place to support meaningful participation, organizational performance, and measurable outcomes. She applies a
systems-based approach that connects stakeholder insight, operational realities, and environmental design across complex projects and organizations, spanning healthcare, education, and community settings where design must respond to dynamic human and operational conditions. Dr. Abushousheh brings a cross-sector perspective on how evidence is generated, interpreted, and applied in practice, with a focus on embedding that insight into processes and systems in ways that are visible, repeatable, and impactful.
Melody Karick, CDP, CMDCP, PCHA, PAC
Dementia Educator and Consultant
Melody Karick is an accomplished healthcare facilitator and dedicated senior advocate with over 25 years of expertise specializing in dementia care programming, conflict resolution, and community resource coordination. Driven by a personal journey as a care partner to her father, she has committed her career to moving the dementia care focus from disability to ability. As a licensed Personal Care Home Administrator (PCHA), Melody helped design, created specialized programming for, and served as the Director of Memory Support for Meadow View Memory Community—a nationally award-winning facility celebrated for its state-of-the-art,
person-centered environment. A recognized speaker with the Dementia Friendly PA Speakers Bureau, she is also widely known for developing the Challenges to Solutions (C2S) curriculum, a practical educational framework engineered to help individuals living with cognitive decline maintain lifelong normalcy, dignity, and purpose.