'Tezztrax' was developed primarily to help my father test both his memory and cognitive function in a challenging but fun way.
I’m Tezz and in early 2023 my father suffered a stroke.
Luckily, my mother recognised the symptoms of a stroke and he received swift and efficient medical attention from the wonderful team at the Royal United Hospital in Bath, UK. After a few months rehabilitation, and being a keen motorist, he was eager to begin driving again. However, rules stated that he couldn’t just jump behind the wheel. He had to undertake an official driving assessment to prove he would be safe on the road.
The assessment was split into two parts, both of which had to be passed. One part was a practical revue of his on-road driving ability which was very similar to a regular driving test. The examiner could see that the stroke had had little effect on this and his 60+ years of driving experience shone through.
The Montreal Cognitive Assessment
Next came the cognitive test. He was given the Montreal Cognitive Assessment which tests the brain’s functioning for things like decision making, processing of information and memory recall, all of which are vital for safe driving.
The test results showed a few areas of cognitive function which seemed to have been impaired by the effect of the stroke and it was suggested that a few more months rehabilitation would be beneficial before retaking the test.
The test itself is really interesting and each part is designed to challenge a different part of the brain. One part involves having to think of as many words as possible beginning with a given letter. My father had difficulty with this task which showed the stroke had affected the part of the brain which processes this information. Another part of the test which proved difficult was being given a sequence of words and having to recall them later in the test.
A better chance of passing
As a keen amateur coder, I set about developing a test which my father could use to help in these two specific areas. We were told that practice could, in some cases, help the brain create new ways of processing certain information, thus giving him a better chance of passing his driving assessment the second time around.
I had an idea which was based around our shared love of music. He has always been able to name the singer of certain songs, especially hits from the 1950s and 60s. I developed a little puzzle whereby I would give him the initial letters of a well known music track. The idea was to train his brain to think of words beginning with those letters. Once he had thought of a possible answer his memory recall would be challenged to try and think of the artist who sang that particular track.
Even though it proved quite difficult, family and friends seemed to enjoy playing along with him. This made me decide to launch this website ‘tezztrax’.
Improve brain health and well-being
Whether you are suffering from cognitive impairment due to medical reasons, or you simply enjoy a good brain-teaser, I hope it will, in a small way, help to improve the brain health and well-being of music lovers everywhere.
Most of all I hope it provides a bit of challenging fun for you and your friends and family.
Thanks for reading,
Tezz
p.s. I’ll let you know how my father gets on with his next driving assessment!