AI is being applied to a wide selection of the world’s problems – amongst them, keeping the elderly secure as they age.
Seniors overwhelmingly need to live independently: 92% of older adults say they like to live their final years of their current home. Indeed, the power to live and age on their very own terms gives the elderly a much-deserved sense of independence and control over the later chapter of their lives.
But an increasingly independent elderly population is accompanied by a really real fear held by each seniors and their family members: what happens if an emergency – like a fall, stroke, or heart attack – was to occur while a senior is home alone?
Fortunately, Artificial Intelligence might help meet this challenge. AI is behind quite a few technologies that enable seamless, accurate, and personalized monitoring, allowing seniors to age at home confidently and safely. These advanced home monitoring systems can operate unobtrusively within the background, integrating an additional layer of safety into the every day lives of independent seniors at home without obstructing their regular routines or reminding them of their limitations.
Designed to adapt to the unique behaviors and wishes of every individual, these technologies do greater than merely keep people secure – additionally they promote independence while celebrating the variety of human experiences during a singular stage of life.
Fall Detection
As one ages, on a regular basis activities turn out to be more precarious – consider the risks for an elderly person of by accident tripping on an upturned rug or slipping on wet bathroom tiles. Within the US alone, one in five falls leads to a wound resembling broken bones or head injury for older adults, and falls are accountable for 32,000 senior fatalities annually.
Non-AI integrated wearables have long been in use to handle these potential risks. But many on a regular basis tasks resembling sitting down or moving to and from wheelchairs share similar jerky movements with falls, causing wearable fall detection devices to turn out to be confused, spurring false alarms and creating unnecessary stress for seniors and their caretakers.
AI can play a pivotal role in solving one among the most important challenges of fall detection: improving accuracy.
AI algorithms will be trained on a dataset of countless scenarios, adding a sophisticated level of accuracy in differentiating between the activities of every day living and the trajectory of falls that necessitate concern or emergency intervention. These deep learning algorithms get data from the gyroscope and accelerometer inside a wearable device – ideally worn across the neck or on the hip – to watch speed and angular changes across three dimensions. These algorithms are called Convolutional Neural Networks (CNN), and so they contain a database of the gyroscopic movements related to quite a lot of every day living activities. When an anomaly is registered, the device can then accurately detect when a user has suffered from a fall, but doesn’t get confused by other sorts of similar movements.
One other solution is ambient, radar-based fall detection technology – which relies on sensors placed around a room, somewhat than a wearable device. Utilizing computer vision algorithms that  process a gentle stream of captured images, the radar-based technology constantly analyzes various room layouts, outdoor and indoor situations, circumstances with pets, and folks of various shapes, sizes, and ages to accurately classify and detect falls. The continually learning nature of the AI algorithm ensures that seniors can remain safely monitored at the same time as room layouts and environments change.
When properly trained – on diverse populations of various sizes, ages, and medical limitations – AI-enabled fall detection ensures a high level of accuracy across a spectrum of scenarios. This offers a transparent advantage in verifying falls, reducing stress on seniors and their family members, and enabling more elderly people to live to tell the tale their very own terms.
Overall Monitoring
Nearly 95% of individuals over 60 have no less than one chronic condition – sufficiently monitoring these conditions is one among the most important challenges when seniors decide to live to tell the tale their very own.
AI can address this issue by bolstering the telehealth solutions needed to watch these conditions. For seniors with chronic health problems who need to age independently at home, AI-enabled devices that collect and analyze health data offer peace of mind.
Distant patient monitoring solutions equipped with AI can track a senior’s vital signs in real-time – resembling heart rate, blood pressure, and glucose levels – and integrate this data into electronic health records, enabling healthcare providers to proactively adjust treatment plans.
Where does this data come from?
One stream of knowledge will be collected through a system of discreet cameras, radars, and sensors. Machine learning algorithms can then learn a senior’s routine, monitoring and analyzing their activities of every day living (ADL) resembling sleep and mobility. These devices alert caregivers to subtle changes that would indicate a decline in health, resembling slower walking speeds or increased time in bed.
Telehealth data is further informed by wearable devices integrated with AI, which enhance monitoring by constantly gathering and analyzing health data. For instance, an AI model trained on a selected patient’s heartbeat could then detect an irregular rhythm or a sudden change in respiration and immediately notify healthcare providers. This preventive approach – one which uses advanced analytics to discover patterns and deviations in health as soon as they arise – allows for timely interventions, reducing hospitalizations and improving overall outcomes.
The biproduct of collecting and analyzing a lot continuous data is that AI enables more informed decision-making, higher patient outcomes, and more tailored support plans, even within the non-emergency moments. The usage of AI in monitoring solutions affords caregivers and members of the family a holistic view of a senior’s wellbeing as they age in place, offering them the peace of mind they deserve.
Older, Wiser, Safer
Independent living is one among the things people most cherish as they age. AI is making that easier than ever before – enabling older adults to take care of their independence while ensuring their safety in case of emergencies.
By anticipating needs and emergencies before they arise, these technologies not only provide proactive and personalized care solutions that address the unique challenges of aging but offer elderly adults and their family members the calm and confidence they deserve knowing they’re cared for.
Everyone, at any age, deserves the prospect to enjoy a high quality of life that balances independence with safety.
