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Comment by stefanpie | Hacker News Reader

At Emory university I got to see a cool idea to help kids get comfortable with MRI machines. Some Georgia Tech students built a fake MRI machine (a realistic mechanical structure with a sliding bed) that kids could still get into. The cool thing was that it had Bose speakers built into the fake machine so that they could play the sounds of a real MRI machine makes as that is a big aspect that makes kids get anxiety and fear of the machine. It was all in a separate room right by the waiting room and the room with the real MRI. It was so cool to see such a practical solution to patient care especially for kids.

Edit: found some pictures online https://www.cores.emory.edu/csic/resources/imaging/mri_for_h...

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Having worked in the GT/GSU center, it's worth noting that that mock scanner (and indeed the MRI itself) are research-only, but yes the attention my forebears put into the experience particularly for children. Back then there were just a handful of us supporting labs from all 3 schools!

I had an MRI recently and I knew what to expect in terms of the enclosed space, however, all the various sounds the machine makes is a bit alarming. They are quite loud and vary quite a bit in terms of tone and type.

I got into an MRI once, a while ago. Iirc the most alarming aspect of the sounds was that they gave the impression of massive objects spinning, whirring, and moving rather fast around you.

Modern CT scanners, at high rate acquisition modes (like ECG-gated cardiac imaging), spin ridiculously large masses (tube one side + detector on the other) at ridiculously large speeds without killing anyone.

In contrast, MRIs are like the ultimate trance build-up.

The bore of a 3T scanner makes a 1.5T machine seem like it’s the Metropolitan Opera House. The bore is the size of your head with just enough room to not drag your nose on the top.

There's a pretty inspirational Ted Talk about the founder of IDEO, a design firm that created the first Apple mouse, where an MRI machine engineer went through their design process and created a fun experience for kids who were scared of the machines. It's here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=16p9YRF0l-g and starts at about 6:00 and lasts for a bit over 2 minutes. The whole video is worth it though imo

What they need is AR glasses and a physical sliding bench to replace all that

Errr, no? First of all, the kid might freak out from the AI glasses itself, if it could even wear it considering size, weight and other possible health limitations the child might have. They might not ever seen an AI set, they're jittery as it is, and you're introducing another set of variables and strange things they have to figure out.

Also, will they be able to comprehend that the things they are seeing in the AI image is an analogue of what will happen soon? It won't replace the "tactileness" of the machine and process, adults or companions can't guide them through a hologram in any immediate way.

To add to this this, many of the aspects that make MRI's uncomfortable for kids and even adults is all the physical sensations. Even the claustrophobia can get to many adults if they have never been in one of these machines. Also aspects such as the having the transmit/recoveree coil harness on the patient are physicals sensations you have to experience (for example sensing coils for the head) and really cant be emulated. The sound itself is also very physical as it is somthing not just heard but also felt by the patients. The sound is caused by electromechanical (fast high current switching of the electromagnet coils of the gradient coils) interactions in the operation of the machine itself so you might also feel the sound via the machine or coming from many directions in the bore.

I remembers from my class that there are some published works that design MRI sequences ("pattern" in which you operate the MRI machine to switch/modulate the electromagnets of the gradient coils, send RF pulses, and record the received RF pulses) in such a way that they reduce or don't cause the majority of the noise from the switching of the gradient coil in a typical MRI sequence.

> there are some published works that design MRI sequences ("pattern" in which you operate the MRI machine to switch/modulate the electromagnets of the gradient coils, send RF pulses, and record the received RF pulses) in such a way that they reduce or don't cause the majority of the noise from the switching of the gradient coil in a typical MRI sequence.

There are and they have various names from vendors (whisper mode, quiet suite etc). Unfortunately these modes of operation are usually a bit limiting in terms of resolution and make sequences longer. They do reduce the noise.

By and large, if you give kids a movie to watch you’ll get 30 minutes of them remaining still.

Clinically, the application for noise reduction is often for patients whose hearing is at risk and can’t be protected effectively. Animals and patients with pathology which prevents earplug or headphone use etc.

https://www.siemens-healthineers.com/en-us/magnetic-resonanc...

Reading this makes me glad that you can't feel what the intense magnetic field does to the hydrogen atoms in you. (I don't know, I've never been in one)

Vs most hospitals won’t be able to build such models or won’t even consider it due to many factors.

No but what _might_ work is a VR headset and headphones so that when they do go into the real MRI they can experience some kind of fun analogue, like they are lying in a colourful forest being rolled into a carved out wooden log, watching birds fly over and so on. Something like this: https://youtu.be/VgCPMkNlkSI?feature=shared&t=48

Honestly that sounds awesome but the huge magnets might dismantle the vr headset .

Everything used close to or within a scanner seems to be steampunk version of the electronic equivalent: the call bell is pneumatic, headphones are 1970s airplane style airphones, and video displays to use for image recognition/memory recall research are some periscope contraptions.

I think a refracted VR display made of ulexite-like glasses might have a place.

That'd be difficult given how an MRI works. Plus, VR wouldn't really be necessary given that the patient typically can't move their head. There do exist non-metallic goggles and headphones that pipe in the stuff from external electrical sources in a non-electrical way to the patient, as you can see in the video below. I'm not sure how ubiquitous those are, though.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mz8sVSZVsPc

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