Sensory stimulation

Sensory stimulation is the use of external environmental stimuli to promote arousal and adequate behavioural responsiveness, so that by gradually providing the nervous system with sensory information, the patient is able to perform adequate action depending on their level of responsiveness. Sensory stimulation programmes use different smells and flavours of moderate-to-high intensity, verbal and non-verbal sounds (e.g. white noise or music), visual stimuli (e.g. objects, photographs) and tactile stimuli (e.g. physical contact, feeling one’s body, feeling objects of different textures, moving objects) to promote arousal and adequate behavioural responsiveness. Sensory stimulation is guided by a health worker and, if feasible, also provided by carers following education and advice on the appropriate exercises.