Testing Health-Alert Sensor Systems for Seniors Living Independently

With support from the National Science Foundation and a White House initiative called US Ignite, University of Missouri researchers are using next-generation, high-speed networks to remotely pinpoint subtle changes in an older person's everyday movements. Health-alert systems are being tested in senior housing in Columbia, MO and Cedar Falls, IA, using motion sensors for activity monitoring, webcam silhouette images and Kinect depth images for gait analysis, vision and acoustic sensing for fall detection, and a new hydraulic bed sensor that captures quantitative pulse, respiration, and restlessness. This research will impact the healthcare and quality of life for older adults. New approaches will assist health care providers to identify potential health problems early, offering a model for eldercare technology that keeps seniors independent while reducing health care costs.

Transcript

00:00:00 ♫MUSIC♫ GEORGE HAIGE: Well, and I'm about three months short of 90. The thing that bothers me now is my gait has been altered a little bit. I'm a little shaky. MILES O'BRIEN: When George Haige walks around his apartment, sensors track his every move. Not his face or his identity, just his movements. MARJORIE SKUBIC: We have passive infrared motion sensors that are scattered around the home. MILES O'BRIEN: Haige is one of a number of residents at the

00:00:36 Senior Living TigerPlace Apartments in Columbia, Missouri, where they are helping test whether these sensors can help solve an age-old, old-age problem. MARJORIE SKUBIC: The goal is to keep people in their own homes as healthy and independent and functionally active as possible. MILES O'BRIEN: With support from the National Science Foundation and a White House initiative called US Ignite, Computer Engineer Marjorie Skubic and Nursing Professor Marilyn Rantz, at the University of Missouri, are using next-generation, high-speed networks to remotely pinpoint

00:01:10 subtle changes in an older person's every day movements. They are monitoring for health problems or distress. GEORGE HAIGE: If I ever fall here, why, they'll know that somebody's on the floor. MARJORIE SKUBIC: So the hydraulic bed sensor fits underneath the mattress, so it's completely non-invasive. MILES O'BRIEN: They're testing new sensors under the mattress to measure a sleeper's heart and breathing rate. MARJORIE SKUBIC: He wakes up about the same time every day, and he goes to bed about the same time every night. He's a

00:01:40 very consistent schedule. MILES O'BRIEN: Once a pattern is established – MARJORIE SKUBIC: We look for changes in the sensor data patterns that may correlate with changes in health. MILES O'BRIEN: If there's a change an email is sent to a caregiver, and a nurse checks in with the resident. MARILYN RANTZ: It could be a change in bed restlessness. It could be a change in their heart rate overnight. It could be a change in their respiration. MILES O'BRIEN: For example, frequent trips to the bathroom

00:02:04 could be an early sign of a urinary tract infection. MARILYN RANTZ: The problems are much easier to solve when it's early. Urinary tract infections and other infections in older people often lead to sepsis. That's a blood infection, and that leads to an ICU stay or death. MILES O'BRIEN: Skubic expects this technology to be on the market in the near future – and not just to keep tabs on the elderly. She says it will be widely available to anyone with a chronic health condition who would like some extra monitoring at home. For Science Nation, I'm Miles O'Brien.