THE most advanced MRI scanner in the north of Scotland can now give patients instructions in Doric.
The University of Aberdeen’s 3T MRI scanner has been programmed with the language in order to make patients feel more comfortable when using the machine.
The MRI (which stands for magnetic resonance imaging) scanner recently had a £1.2 million upgrade. As well as providing clearer imaging, more accurate diagnosis, and a 30% faster operating speed, the new software can also issue patient instructions in multiple languages.
READ MORE: The origins of Scots: How Irish Gaelic, Anglo-Saxon and Dutch influenced our speech
The machine came pre-programmed with 17 languages including English, Spanish, French, Russian, Arabic, and Mandarin but the software can also have additional languages added.
In collaboration with the University’s Elphinstone Institute, the scanner can now issue instructions in Scots, more specifically Northeast Scots, or Doric as it is known by many.
The machine says phrases such as “In a’tween the neist puckle o’ scans the table will move aboot”, and “Breathe in… and hud yer breath”.
Nearly 50% of Aberdeenshire residents identify as Scots speakers. In Moray, 45% of residents identify as Scots speakers and in Aberdeen City the figure is 36%, still higher than the Scottish average of 30%.
Dr Gordon Waiter, a senior lecturer and brain imaging expert at the University of Aberdeen said he hoped it might make some patients feel more comfortable in what can be a daunting environment.
He said: “The option to hear instructions in different languages is only a small part of this major overhaul which will bring massive benefits to both our imaging research capability and patients across the North of Scotland.
“But we’re aware that coming for an MRI scan can be unnerving, so anything that makes the experience more relaxing is welcome.
“As someone from the North-East myself I am proud of our distinct dialect of Scots and it’s great that advances in technology allow us to offer this degree of flexibility, whether it is for people who speak Doric, or indeed any of the other 17 languages available.”
Waiter (below) added: “The 3T scanner is the workhorse of our research output – it is constantly in use scanning patients and volunteers from the whole of the north of Scotland, including Orkney and Shetland.
“This refurbishment brings it right up to date and will ultimately benefit the community that it serves.”
As part of the £1.2m upgrade, the machine was stripped back to its core, a magnet weighing 5.3 tonnes (around 5300kg).
The University said the change was “like moving from dial-up to fibre broadband”.
Recent research by Dr Thomas McKean from the University of Aberdeen’s Elphinstone Institute has explored how those with dementia experience “second language attrition”, eventually leaving them best able to communicate in their native tongue which in Northeast Scotland is often Doric.
“People living with dementia find comfort in the familiar, the known,” McKean said, “so hearing our mother tongue in a stressful medical situation can only be a benefit, helping to relax patients at a difficult time.”
The phrases were recorded by Simon Gall, public engagement officer with the Institute, who has seen this phenomenon first-hand.
He said: “My grandmother, a Doric speaker who has dementia, struggles now with communication in English, but when carers and medical professionals use Scots, she is much more responsive."
The control room of the University of Aberdeen MRI scanner
Gall went on: “Of course not everyone that comes for an MRI scan will be in this situation, but as well as helping those that are, I’m learning through my own research on the use of Northeast Scots in public health communications during the pandemic, that, for many, the language can reach people in ways that English does not, invoking, as it often does, notions of home, safety, and stability in very uncertain times.
“The uncertainty of receiving an MRI scan is perhaps a comparable experience on an individual level and the sound of Doric instructions may invoke positive feelings in those who hear them.
“It’s great that Dr Waiter decided to make use of the facility to allow us to record instructions in Doric and if my voice can put even one person at ease, I am delighted.”
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