Let’s talk about sensory rooms in airports. 

Featuring Claire Donnellan, Director, Customer Centric Consulting 

What is a Sensory Room?

Sensory rooms refer to a broad category of environments used for various therapeutic purposes, including rehabilitation, occupational therapy, and supporting an individual’s sensory or self-regulation needs. They have a long history in clinical environments—originating in the 1970s.  The spaces are typically designed for use by people with a range of disabilities, including cognitive, developmental, or intellectual disabilities.  

The data is clear that these disabilities are on the rise globally. A study published by The Lancet Neurology showed that over 3 billion people were living with a neurological condition in 2021.¹ In the United States, 13.9 percent of adults were reported to have a cognitive disability in 2022.² Similarly, 14.9 percent of people in the EU reported memory and concentration issues.³ In Canada, the prevalence of mental health-related, learning, memory, and developmental disabilities among the total population increased by 4.7 percentage points from 2017 to 2022.⁴ 

As a result, sensory rooms are fast-becoming commonplace in schools, hospitals, and community centers globally. Zoos and museums are also working to combat sensory overload and redefining how inclusive experiences are designed.⁵ 

Airports, too, are part of this trend. Dozens of airports—dominantly in the United States, Canada, UK, and Ireland—have now introduced these spaces. Airports are under growing pressure to improve services and facilities for people with disabilities and their caregivers, with many viewing sensory rooms as a practical way to address a need. 

Identifying and Removing the Barrier 

While a sensory room can play a role, even give a sense of progress, it can also create a sense that a need has been met while more fundamental barriers remain unaddressed.

At InterVISTAS Consulting, we categorize barriers in five ways⁶:  physical, attitudinal, information and communication, systemic, and technological.

This blog focuses on the physical barrier.

These barriers prevent physical access for some people with disabilities, including the impact an environment can have on the senses, such as noise, light, scents, crowds and others. For airport professionals and access consultants alike, this raises important questions about what genuinely removes the barriers that passengers with cognitive, developmental, or intellectual disabilities encounter at the airport.

Some of the questions are: 

It is no secret that security screening remains one of the most invasive experiences at an airport causing angst for many and a loss of dignity for some. One question that airports continue to grapple with is “Is there a need for a distinct security checkpoint for people with disabilities?’. Universal design would say this is not an inclusive experience but the data on complaints about security screening would suggest there is a need for one, as do consultations with people with lived experience. 

Designing on behalf of others under assumed perceptions of need risks missing the opportunity to deliver solutions that remove barriers to equal access. 

Capturing the Voice of Users 

Self-advocacy is a real luxury. One of the greatest challenges facing airports is that feedback doesn’t always flow from the end user, specifically those with a disability, but rather through representatives including associations, caregivers, family, or support persons. These are important voices, but the results often lead to designs and features that cater to specific cohorts such as children with autism rather than designing for the range of ages and barriers encountered by people who might use the facility.  

The Sensory Room Solution

If you decide that a sensory room is the right solution, then ask if it is in the right location for your airport. Often the only ‘available’ space is one that does not drive non-aeronautical revenue, hard to find, or a long way from where the space is needed the most. Also ensure that the right amount of consideration has gone into how it will be operationalized. A sensory room that is positioned as a true sensory room with clinical-standard facilities may set the expectation that there are trained personnel or supervision to support use of its facilities. 

There could be a suite of solutions to suit your airport and the people who use it (or wish to use it, but who are too nervous to travel). This may also include a sensory room. When co-creating with people with lived experience, airports have found that reducing the need in the first place might be the focus. This can include ensuring information is readily available before and during the experience, better trained staff, managing noise, glare and reflection. Provisioning well-informed quiet areas, spaces/rooms could be equally or more effective for reducing barriers and serve a broader demographic. 

To deliver a truly barrier-free airport experience, developing the best solution for each environment is paramount. There are multiple examples of airports implementing sensory rooms and often under pressure to meet the growing ‘trend’. It’s critical to explore if there are other ways to remove the barrier you are intending to address in a holistic way that includes the entire process, from looking and booking travel to the aircraft cabin.  

Be the airport that considers the needs of the user with the user and designs spaces deliberately from these insights. Designing on behalf of others under assumed perceptions of need risks missing the opportunity to deliver solutions that remove barriers to equal access. 

1. Steinmetz, Jaimie D, Katrin Maria Seeher, Nicoline Schiess, Emma Nichols, Bochen Cao, Chiara Servili, Vanessa Cavallera, et al. 2024. “Global, regional, and national burden of disorders affecting the nervous system, 1990–2021: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2021.” The Lancet Neurology 23 (4): 344–81. https://doi.org/10.1016/s1474-4422(24)00038-3   ↩︎
2. CDC. (2024). “Disability Impacts All of Us,” Disability Impacts All of Us Infographic | Disability and Health | CDC (accessed 22 November 2024).  ↩︎
3. Eurostat. (2024). “15% EU people reported memory and concentration issues,” https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/products-eurostat-news/w/ddn-20240129-1 (accessed 22 November 2024).  ↩︎
4. Statistics Canada, Canadian Survey on Disability, 2022.  ↩︎
5. The New York Times, “Combating Sensory Overload: How Zoos and Museums are Redefining Inclusion” https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/22/travel/sensory-disabilities-travel.html  ↩︎
6. “Hey Siri”: Technology and Barriers to Equal Access at Airports | ACI World Insights  ↩︎