User Evaluation of Smart Flats for People with Dementia

Abstract

This paper describes work in progress evaluating a B. Devices and Systems smart flat for people with dementia that is part of an Extra-Care development in London. The flat has been let to a permanent Several assistveldevicea m s havbee n alledin tenant who has dementia. They are fitted with a KNX (EIB)l the flat by the development team. They seek to follow a design based integrated smart house system providing local intervention philosophy where they mimic the actions of a human carer. and monitoring in the event of a problem being detected by the They aim to keep the user informed of what is happening in the built in distributed sensor network. Close cooperation between flat, and be usable without prior knowledge. Existing familiar the system designers, housing manager, social services, evaluation team, users and carers has proved to be important to successful ue inter paradis a em wherever ps b and efficient completion of the design and installation of this 1) Cooke inder. isva system tt cat o the hob v technology and its subsequent evaluation. It is expected that if smoke is detected. However, before it switches the hob off, much data will be collected using outcome measures and data it plays a voice message to the tenant informing him that his logging that will facilitate the configuration and evaluation of cooker requires immediate attention. If the smoke alarm clears smart systems for people with dementia.

Smart home technologies that support independent living: challenges and opportunities for the building industry – a systematic mapping study

“…Building materials are critical for some technologies that either do not work within specific building environments or require more sensors to achieve a reasonable performance (Grunerbl et al 2011). Adlam et al (2007) reported that concrete floors and false ceilings made retrofitting devices in the ceiling very difficult. This topic is particularly relevant to indoor localization, which may become considerably complex due to reflections from walls (Del Castillo et al 2006), floors and ceilings and transmission through obstacles (Almudevar et al 2008).…”

“…It has to be used correctly in order to manage large amount of data: Adlam et al (2007) reported, for example, 22,000 logged events in the first week of logging. Uhrikova et al (2010) reduced energy consumption and data volume by using a motion sensor that turns the camera on whenever some motion is detected.…”

Process requirements for building sustainable digital assistive technology for older people

“…The study aimed to identify the ways in which they can be helped to be independent for longer, by using recorded voice prompts or visual location cues (Lindsay et al, 2007). The application of ubiquitous computing has the potential to aid independence through the development of smart flats and devices for tracking the movement and location of people with dementia (Lindsay et al, 2007;Adlam et al, 2006) as well as telecare (Martin, 2005;Lindsay et al, 2007;Takahashi et al, 2003).…”

“…and opportunities gained from applying ubiquitous technology in everyday activities and ubiquitous technologies to different contexts (Adlam et al, 2006;Kray et al, 2007).…”

A preliminary evaluation of a client-centred prompting tool for supporting everyday activities in individuals with mild to moderate levels of cognitive impairment due to dementia

“…Similarly, prompts can be provided in different mediums each of which presents opportunities and challenges. Audio prompts have been successfully used to support task performance in individuals with a variety of cognitive difficulties ( Adlam et al., 2006 ; Evans et al., 2007 ; Lines & Hone, 2006 ; O’Neill & Gillespie, 2008 ). Short verbal instructions seem to be preferable as these constrain the number of possible options available, reducing the demand on the person’s cognitive abilities.…”