DementiaCare: A novel lighting and monitoring tool to support those living with dementia

人口老龄化对本已不堪重负的医疗/社会保健系统提出了挑战，促使迫切需要能够促进独立生活、提高生活质量和降低医疗成本负担的支持性技术。目前，仅在英国就有85万人(主要是老年人)患有痴呆症，预计到2040年这一数字将翻一番。我们的系统通过扩大护理关系、更快的反应、改进的医疗整合、减少健康/社会护理需求、改善健康范围和生活质量、帮助早期诊断来满足这一人群的需求。现在，**DementiaCare**产品将开发一种智能灯泡，它将结合昼夜节律增强的照明和低分辨率活动传感器，并在高级人工智能方法中使用组合的声学和基本视觉数据来跟踪逐渐/突然的认知能力下降。由此产生的系统提醒照料者注意事件，确保对突然出现的混乱事件做出快速反应，并对逐渐减少的情况进行适当管理。与昼夜节律照明增强相结合，该产品将有助于让痴呆症患者在自己的家中安全生活更长时间，减轻过载护理系统的压力，同时让家人和照顾者安心，个人在独处时仍得到照顾。

The ageing population presents a challenge to an already overstretched health/social-care system, prompting an urgent need for supportive technologies that promote independent living, improve quality-of-life, and reduce healthcare cost burdens. There are currently 850k (mostly elderly) people living with dementia in the UK alone, a figure which is expected to double by 2040\. Our system meets the needs of this demographic through augmented carer-caree relationships, faster responses, improved healthcare integration, reduced health/social care demands, improved healthspan & quality-of-life, aiding early diagnoses.Now, the **DementiaCare** product will develop a smart light bulb that incorporates circadian-enhanced lighting with low-resolution activity sensors and uses combined acoustic and basic vision data in advanced AI approaches to track gradual/sudden cognitive decline. The resultant system alerts carers to incidents ensuring rapid responses to sudden episodes of confusion and appropriate management of gradual decline. In combination with the circadian lighting augmentation, the product will help to keep those suffering from dementia living safely in their own homes for longer, reducing pressure on an overloaded care system while giving family and carers peace of mind that individuals are still cared for when alone.