Coast to Coast Seminar Series: "Sensor Technologies for Managing Disease and Disability"

Abstract

Technology has been proposed as part of the solution to the challenges of a population that is getting increasingly frail, but prefers to “age in place.” A number of different sensors and sensor types have been proposed to monitor health conditions and overall functioning of older adults in their homes. This C2C seminar will review a number of unobtrusive sensors that have been used in both laboratory and community settings. Our group has used a pressure sensitive mat that can distinguish between healthy and impaired transfers from bed. The same mat has also been used to monitor breathing at the end of life. Other sensors include ones as simple as magnetic switches on the fridge door and as complicated as electronic noses and microphone arrays. Ultimately, these technologies will be able to monitor older adults in their homes and detect changes that can lead to early intervention, thus preventing health or functional deterioration and more significant morbidity, and hence supporting “aging in place.”