Non-Intrusive Monitoring of High Functioning Elderly

描述(由申请人提供)：旨在提高老年人独立生活能力的技术发展通常针对残疾、慢性病或其他需要帮助的已知原因的人。当前研究中的一个关键空白，特别是STTR计划所涉及的，是为65岁以上的人群提供的辅助技术，这些人功能正常，总体上健康，但随着年龄的增长，他们变得越来越虚弱，容易受到事故或疾病的影响，成为致残的医疗事件，失去独立生活的能力。 独居的人面临的风险最大，因为他们的疾病或受伤可能会在相当长的时间内被忽视，将小事件变成严重事件。虽然这些人可以从监测中受益，但其成员可能不能容忍侵入性监测，因为没有明确的医疗需求，而且“以防万一”的家庭监测系统的成本往往超过预期的好处。 为了解决这些问题，这项研究观察到，在许多情况下，关心问题的邻居通常是第一个注意到问题的人，只是通过以非侵入性的方式观察到一个人的日常生活中的巨大变化(例如，灯在应该亮的时候没有亮起)并采取适当的行动。第二阶段的工作集中在设计和开发一种低成本、非侵入性的家庭监控系统，该系统可以提供有关房屋居住者(即“电子关注的邻居”)的可操作信息。第一阶段的研究已经确认了开发电子关注邻居系统的技术和市场可行性。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Technology developments aimed at extending the ability of the elderly to live independently often target those people with a disability, chronic condition, or other known reason requiring help with their care. A critical gap in current research, specifically addressed by this STTR program, is assistance technology for the population of persons over 65 years of age who are high-functioning and generally healthy, but are growing increasingly frail as they age and susceptible to an accident or illness becoming a disabling medical incident and eliminating their ability to live independently. Those living alone are at the most risk because their illness or injury may go unnoticed for a considerable length of time, turning a minor incident into a serious one. While this population could benefit from monitoring, its members are likely to be intolerant of intrusive monitoring because there is no clear medical need for it and the costs of a "just-in-case" home monitoring systems often outweigh the perceived benefits. To address these issues, this research observes that, in many cases, a concerned neighbor is often the first person to notice a problem simply by observing, in a non-intrusive manner, a large variation in a person's routine (e.g., lights not on when they should be) and taking appropriate action. The Phase II effort is focused on the design and development of a low-cost, non-intrusive home monitoring system can provide actionable information on the welfare of a home's occupant, i.e., an 'Electronic Concerned Neighbor'. Phase I research has confirmed the technical and marketing feasibility for developing the Electronic Concerned Neighbor system.