Design Of Assistive Technology For Ageing Populations

This book focuses on various aspects of research on ageing, including in relation to assistive technology; dignity of aging; how technology can support a greater understanding of the experience of physically aging and cognitive changes; mobility issues associated with the elderly; and emerging technologies. The 80+ age group represents an expanding market, with an estimated worth of £21.4 billion a year. Everyone is affected by this shift in demographics – we are getting older and may become carers – and we need to prepare ourselves and adjust our surroundings for longer life. Products, services and environments have been changing in response to the changing population. Presenting international design research to demonstrate the thinking and ideas shaping design, this book is a valuable resource for designers; product developers; employers; gerontologists; and medical, health and service providers; as well as everyone interested in aging.

Demographics reveal that the proportion of elderly individuals in the population is growing at a significant rate. Advances in medicine have allowed populations to live longer than ever; however, ensuring that these individuals have the tools necessary to sustain a productive and happy lifestyle as they age remains a concern. Optimizing Assistive Technologies for Aging Populations focuses on the development and improvement of devices intended to assist elderly individuals in coping with various physical limitations and disabilities. Highlighting the available tools and technologies for supporting the mobility, agility, and self-sufficiency of the aging population as well as the challenges associated with the integration of these technologies into the everyday lives of elderly individuals, this publication is ideally designed for reference use by healthcare workers, medical students, gerontologists, and IT developers in the field of medicine.

Assistive Technology for the Elderly addresses the intricacies involved in the design and development of assisted technologies for the elderly, covering smart systems such as magnifying book contents, speaking electronic devices, alarms for doors and windows, smart alert bands, panic buttons, medication dispensers and reminders, Wander Gard, physiological parameters monitoring systems and smart home monitoring systems. This book is aimed at those who are responsible for designing assistive technology intended to be used by the elderly. It lays out the technology that is already available and covers user needs and state-of-the-art technologies and methodologies. Focuses on practical devices and technology for engineers Offers deep coverage of sensor based assistive technologies that are elderly for people with dementia, physical disabilities and people living alone Covers assistive technology ecosystems and offers case studies for practical application

This book brings together Sociologists, Computer Scientists, Applied Scientists and Engineers to explore the design, implementation and evaluation of emerging technologies for older people. It offers an innovative and comprehensive overview, not only of the rapidly developing suite of current digital technologies and platforms, but also of perennial theoretical, methodological and ethical issues. As such, it offers support for researchers and professionals who are seeking to understand and/or promote technology use among older adults. The contributions presented here offer theoretical and methodological frameworks for understanding age-based digital inequalities, participation, digital design and socio-gerontechnology. They include ethical and practical reflections on the design and evaluation of emerging technologies for older people, as well as guidelines for ethical, participatory, professional and cross-disciplinary research and practice. In addition, they feature state-of-the-art, international empirical research on communication technologies, games, assistive technology and social media. As the first truly multidisciplinary book on technology use among ageing demographics, and intended for students, researchers, applied researchers, practitioners and professionals in a variety of fields, it will provide these readers with insights, guidelines and paradigms for practice that transcend specific technologies, and lay the groundwork for future research and new directions in innovation.

This book was stimulated by the third Cambridge Workshop Series on Universal Access and Assistive Technology held in April 2006; the contributors represent leading researchers in the fields of Inclusive Design, Rehabilitation Robotics, Universal Access and Assistive Technology. Contributions focus on design issues for a more inclusive world; enabling computer access and the development of new technologies; assistive technology and rehabilitation robotics; and understanding users and involving them in design.

The two LNCS volume set 9754-9755 constitutes the refereed proceedings of the Second International Conference on Human Aspects of IT for the Aged Population, ITAP 2016, held as part of the 18th International Conference on Human-Computer Interaction, HCII 2016, held in Toronto, ON, Canada, in July 2016, jointly with 14 other thematically conferences. The total of 1287 papers and 186 poster papers presented at the HCII 2016 conferences were carefully reviewed and selected from 4354 submissions. LNCS 9754, Design for Aging (Part I), addresses the following major topics: designing for and with the elderly; technology use and acceptance by older users; psychological and cognitive aspects of interaction and aging; mobile and wearable technologies for the elderly. LNCS 9755, Healthy and Active Aging (Part II), addresses these major topics: smart and assistive environments; aging and social media; aging, learning, training and games; and aging, mobility and driving.

Emerging and currently available technologies offer great promise for helping older adults, even those without serious disabilities, to live healthy, comfortable, and productive lives. What technologies offer the most potential benefit? What challenges must be overcome, what problems must be solved, for this promise to be fulfilled? How can federal agencies like the National Institute on Aging best use their resources to support the translation from laboratory findings to useful, marketable products and services? Technology for Adaptive Aging is the product of a workshop that brought together distinguished experts in aging research and in technology to discuss applications of technology to communication, education and learning, employment, health, living environments, and transportation for older adults. It includes all of the workshop papers and the report of the committee that organized the workshop. The committee report synthesizes and evaluates the points made in the workshop papers and recommends priorities for federal support of translational research in technology for older adults.

The United States is experiencing an unprecedented growth of its older adult population from now until 2050. The current health paradigm, which is focused on the provider model of health, is not going to be able to handle this growth and demand on the system. A health model where patients and other stakeholders participate in healthcare may be sustainable. However, these people need to be empowered, and technology can play a big role. Thus, it will become of increasing importance to discover the most appropriate way to integrate technology into daily living to maintain proper quality of life for this adult cohort. The work contained in this doctoral dissertation is driven by the needs of older adults, and represents examples of the types of technologies and design methods that will be needed to keeping older adults healthy. These medical technologies aim to address some the prevalent healthcare issues facing older adults in an appropriate and dignity preserving way. Three technologies will be discussed here, the first is a novel hearing technology that addresses many of the concerns older adults have with the presently available hearing devices. The device is located deep in the ear canal and recreates sounds with mechanical movements of the tympanic membrane. The DHD successfully recreated ossicular chain movements across the frequencies of human hearing while demonstrating controllable magnitude. Moreover, the device was validated in a short-term human clinical performance study where the DHD successfully recreated sound in healthy subject. The second is an exploratory non-invasive diagnostic system that analyzes a subject's pupil light reflex to gain insight to neurological health. This prototype was developed and validated on a small population to evaluate the ease-of-use of this portable system and to establish a viable testing protocol to evaluate a population of retinal cells that are believed to be involved in a variety of neurological disorders. Lastly, a non-obtrusive insole was developed to measure a subject's balance and gait in many different environments. This technology has been designed and is currently undergoing testing in the department of Orthopedic Surgery at the University of California Irvine Medical Center.

Inclusive Design: What's in It for Me? presents a comprehensive review of current practice in inclusive design. With emphasis on new ideas for improvement and arguments for wider implementation in future, a unique combination of leading opinions on inclusive design from both industry and academia are offered. The theme throughout encourages a positive view of inclusive design as a good and profitable process and to produce a change to more effective approaches to "design for all". Inclusive Design is composed of two parts with a common chapter structure so that the business and design arguments in favour of inclusive design can be easily compared and assimilated: The Business Case presents the industrial and management benefits of inclusive design. It concentrates on demographic, legal and ethical reasons for all businesses being better off taking inclusivity into account in the design of their products or services. Case histories demonstrating the commercial success of inclusive design are drawn from the experiences of companies such as Tesco, Fiat and The Royal Mail. The Designers' Case focuses on the factors a designer needs to take into account when dealing with inclusivity. "Who is going to use my design?" "What do they need from my design?" "How do I take any medical needs into account?" "Just how "inclusive" is my design?" are all questions answered in this section which presents the necessary tools for effective inclusive design. This part of the book aims to convince a designer that inclusive design is a realistic goal. Inclusive Design will appeal to designers, researchers and students and to managers making decisions about the research and design strategies of their companies.

A unique resource for rehabilitation engineers, design and building professionals, rehabilitation counselors, gerontologists, psychologists, and other health and mental health professionals, this volume covers the significance and impact of universal design as a change agent for social and health movements. With a focus that is both practical and visionary, it emphasizes how the use of universal design can promote increased performance and participation for the aging population and people with disabilities, while mitigating the stigma and segregation that often characterize traditional rehabilitation design strategies. Written by one of the few architecturally trained researchers engaged in environmental issues related to accessibility and design for aging, the book stresses that universal design is not solely for people with disabilities, but is about usability and inclusion for people of all levels of ability. It examines key social ecological models in rehabilitation for aging and disability, and sheds new light on health and disability at both the individual and population level. Particular attention is paid to the medical, functional, and environmental implications of disability, health care and disability systems, and the psychosocial and cultural issues pertinent to rehabilitation counseling. Key Features: Examines the medical, functional, and environmental implications of disability Addresses health care and disability systems Discusses psychosocial and cultural issues pertinent to rehabilitation counseling Rooted in the concepts of social equity and inclusivity through participation of older adults and disabled individuals in community and societal roles Provides a visionary yet practical paradigm that transcends traditional design problem-solving