Snoezelen room or controlled multisensory Environment (MSE) is a specially designed room that initiates changes in arousal by affecting the relaxation process, reducing anxiety and/or pain (both physical and emotional).
It is used for people with developmental disabilities, and involves exposing them to a soothing and stimulating environment, the “snoezelen room”. These rooms are specially designed to deliver stimuli to various senses, using lighting effects, color, sounds, music, scents, etc. The combination of different materials on a wall may be explored using tactile senses, and the floor may be adjusted to stimulate the sense of balance.
It aims to maximize a person’s potential to focus on his own free will and to engage on a motivational stimulus (object and/or activity, and/or person), and thereby to improve communication and functioning.