On Friday, the Wayne County Airport Authority and Delta Air Lines unveiled a brand-new multisensory room in the Edward H. McNamara Terminal at Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport (DTW).
Like similar rooms at airports in Pittsburgh; Seattle; Kansas City, Missouri; Portland, Oregon; and Fort Wayne, Indiana, DTW’s new multisensory room is designed to provide a calm, supportive and safe environment for individuals with sensory sensitivities or cognitive disabilities as well as for their families.
DTW’s newest amenity features calming colors, sounds and activities that allow travelers to take a break from the sights and sounds of a busy airport. This way, they can calmly prepare for the next step of their journey.
Developed in partnership with Delta at a cost of nearly $500,000, DTW’s multisensory room has a variety of spaces and features that help with self-regulation and relaxation.
Those features include a musical wall that lets users create sounds by placing their hands on the surface. There’s also a wall that provides visual stimulation with different shapes and textures that help promote relaxation.
Other elements of DTW’s new multisensory room include a beanbag with fiber optic strands that provide predictable visual input and a crash pad that creates deep pressure to reduce anxiety. There’s even a tree with a built-in cubby that can create a sense of safety and allow individuals to escape sensory input from the environment.
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DETROIT METROPOLITAN WAYNE COUNTY AIRPORT
Chad Newton, CEO of the Wayne County Airport Authority (which operates DTW), said in a statement that the addition of the multisensory room reflects the authority’s commitment “to reducing the stress of travel and creating an inclusive environment for all of our guests.”
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“At Delta, we believe travel is for everyone and are committed to creating elevated experiences for all our customers,” Hussein Berry, Delta’s vice president of airport operations at DTW, said. “Delta is proud to partner with the Wayne County Airport Authority as DTW joins the list of airports that provide a calming, supportive environment rooted in research for customers with sensory sensitivities and their families as they travel.”
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DTW passengers will find the new multisensory room across from Gate A36, behind Pandora. The room is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and it has a maximum capacity of six occupants. Anyone who wants to use the room can call ahead to get an access code to enter.
Other sensory rooms of note
DTW is the latest U.S. airport to introduce a multisensory room for travelers, and it’s encouraging that this helpful and inclusive amenity is becoming more common at airports across the country.
Open Doors Organization — a nonprofit that works with airports, airlines and other organizations on accessibility issues — listed more than 30 airports with sensory rooms in May 2023.
When the award-winning new terminal opened at Kansas City International Airport (MCI) in February 2023, it introduced a sensory room as well as the Kansas City Air Travel Experience Room — a space that allows travelers to practice boarding, takeoff and landing.
Portland International Airport (PDX) recently added several rows of airline seats to its sensory room, which opened in 2022.
The airport’s maintenance department took brand-new seats donated by Alaska Airlines and created a small replica section of an airplane cabin against a wall, complete with porthole windows and an overhead bulkhead. The sensory room at PDX is at the end of Concourse D, and you don’t need a reservation to use it.
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In September 2024, Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport (MSP) announced that the sensory room would be part of two separate terminal expansions projected to be completed in 2028.
Pittsburgh International Airport (PIT) recently celebrated the five-year anniversary of Presley’s Place, a 1,500-square-foot series of sensory rooms that opened in 2023.
“Presley’s Place is the result of an initiative from one of our own staff members who came up with the idea for our terminal,” Christina Cassotis, Pittsburgh International Airport CEO, said. “What he and his son Presley did is inspire an industry and show how airports can do more to reach all members of the traveling public.”
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