Health and wellness is a booming industry but does it involve audio and visual? 

Written By: Kate Couch

The health and wellness industry is a much bigger industry than most people realize. In fact, according to the Global Wellness Institute, the wellness economy is currently valued at 4.5 trillion dollars and represents 5.3% of global economic output. COVID-19 companies are forced to be hyper-aware of how they are dealing with their employee’s and customers’ health. But how does audiovisual come into this? The biggest impact audiovisual has made in the health and wellness movement is on the corporate division: Outdoor audiovisual setups and AV systems in hospital rooms and patient rooms.

Outdoor AV Setups

Under COVID guidelines, gathering spaces have maximum capacities. However, that maximum capacity increases when the event is held outside. In addition to this, people usually don’t have to wear masks when outside. Corporate companies and small businesses have been opting for more outside-oriented gathering places for customers and employees. This created the need for weatherproof audiovisual technology setups. Having large outdoor AV setups is something that’s now in high demand, similar to the Zoom Rooms, which were in high demand last year. Large, sturdy weatherproof monitors and screens paired with wind-resistant microphones and speakers all help created a better outdoor meeting place.

Health AV

In addition to the corporate side of health and wellness AV, there’s also personal health and wellness AV. At-home gyms with AV setups for live streaming exercise classes are something you see in more homes now. Exercise equipment (like the Peloton that has a large display screen) has also made an impact on the market. Technology and audiovisual are integrating themselves into every industry — health and wellness are no exception.

Primary care AV

In the last five years, AV has made an impact on patient care in hospitals and nursing homes. This is probably one of the bigger impacts that AV has made on the health and wellness industry. Remote patient monitoring is a monitoring setup system in a patient’s room. Nurses and doctors can check up on patients without having to be in their rooms 24/7. Remote patient monitoring has decreased dangerous patient falls by 17.3%, according to “Building and Environment” by E. Morales. Telehealth is also something hospitals and primary care providers have implemented. This includes virtual doctor appointments, therapy sessions or interpersonal meetings between doctors. These have to be done through a very secure and safe system for patient privacy. The proper audiovisual setup for these circumstances in hospitals and doctors’ offices is crucial.

Hospitals have also been including other AV systems in their clinics, such as sound masking for auditory privacy. Technology integrated rooms now have patient’s vitals being sent to AV screens and hubs that are easier for everyone to access.

The health and wellness industry is growing rapidly is becoming more important to people and to business. Audiovisual can be a big help in making sure that your employees and communities stay safe and healthy while adapting to the needs of new technology. If you’re interested in any of these systems, reach out to a local audio-visual professional like Audio Visual Bend.

*This article is Tony Sprando of AV Bends intellectual property. To use or reference this article please contact: Tony@avbend.com*

To know more about Tony and his professional profile see these:

• https://www.linkedin.com/in/tonysprando/
• https://www.ravepubs.com/author/tsprando/
• www.tonytheavguy.com

To know more about Kate and her professional profile see these:

• https://www.linkedin.com/in/kate-couch-a7318220a/
• https://k8couch.wixsite.com/katecouch