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"Grounded in a unique team-based geriatrics perspective, this book delivers a broad range of current, evidence-based knowledge about innovative technology that has the potential to advance the care and well-being of older adults. It provides key information about the development, selection, and implementation of technology products, and describes r...
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... Many seniors prefer to stay alone in their homes. This phenomenon is referred to as aging in place, independent living at home, is denoted as the increased in the number of elders who remain in their own homes for the following years in their lives [Ricart 2017]. Providing a healthcare to elders living alone in their homes is a very challenging task given that fact that most of the elders might have a physical and/or cognitive decline. ...
... As the population ages, there is an increasing concern about how we will pay for the quality of care for the elderly and how we will address the quality of care to our aging population ]. Hereafter, there is an immediate need to use low-priced measures to improve health in this group with the intention of preventing illness and disability later [Ricart 2017]. Moreover, there is a crucial need for self and remote monitoring of vital physiological parameters. ...
... As a result, family members or relatives should informally replace the caregivers. Observing dependent individuals at home might cause some difficulties to family members such as higher levels of painfulness and physical health problems [Ricart 2017]. Well-designed and -implemented technology can extend the reach of caregivers, ultimately offsetting the rising cost of healthcare and the need for skilled caregivers. ...
The current approaches for diagnosing sleep disorders are burdensome, intrusive, and can affect the patient’s sleep quality. As a result, there is a crucial need for less cumbersome systems to diagnose sleep-related problems. We propose to use a novel nonintrusive sleep monitoring system based on a microbend fiber-optic mat placed under the bed mattress. The sleep quality is assessed based on different parameters, including heart rate, breathing rate, body movements, wake up time, sleep time, night movement, and bedtime. The proposed system has been validated in a health and wellness environment in addition to a clinical environment as follows. In the former case, the heart rate is measured from noisy ballistocardiogram signals acquired from 50 human volunteers in a sitting position using a massage chair. The signals are unobtrusively collected from a microbend fiber optic sensor embedded within the headrest of the chair and then transmitted to a computer through a Bluetooth connection. The heart rate is computed using the multiresolution analysis of the maximal overlap discrete wavelet transform. The error between the proposed method and the reference ECG is estimated in beats per minute using the mean absolute error where the system achieved relatively good results (10.12 ± 4.69) despite the remarkable amount of motion artifact produced owing to the frequent body movements and/or vibrations of the massage chair during stress relief massage. Unlike the complete ensemble empirical mode decomposition algorithm, previously employed for heart rate estimation, the suggested system is much faster. Hence, it can be used in real-time applications. In the latter case, we evaluated the capacity of the microbend fiber optic sensor to monitor heart rate and respiration unobtrusively. In addition, we tested the capacity of the sensor in discriminating between shallow breathing and no breathing. The proposed sensor was compared to a three-channel portable monitoring device (ApneaLink) in a clinical setting during a drug-induced sleep endoscopy. Across all ten patients recruited for our study, the system achieved satisfactory results in the mean heart rate and the mean respiratory rate with an error of 0.55±0.59 beats/minute and 0.38 ± 0.32 breaths/minute, respectively. Besides, the Pearson correlation coefficient between the proposed sensor and the reference device was 0.96 and 0.78 for heart rate and respiration, respectively. On the contrary, the proposed sensor provided a very low sensitivity (24.24 ± 12.81%) and a relatively high specificity (85.88 ± 6.01%) for sleep apnea detection. It is expected that this preliminary research will pave the way toward unobtrusive detection of obstructive sleep apnea in real-time. Following successful validation of the proposed system, we have successfully deployed our sleep monitoring system in thirteen apartments with mainly senior residents over six months. Nevertheless, in this research, we concentrate on a one-month deployment with three senior female residents. The proposed system shows an agreement with a user’s survey collected before the study. Furthermore, the system is integrated within an existing ambient assisted living platform with a user-friendly interface to make it more convenient for the caregivers to follow-up the sleep parameters of the residents.
... For this reason, there is a good chance for continuous monitoring of our vital signs, some of which are heart rate, respiration, and activity [24]. This Currently, the conventional healthcare monitoring systems are struggling with many challenges that can be summarized as follows [19]. First, aging in place, i.e., the number of older persons who stay alone in their own homes for the latter years of their lives is projected to continue to increase in the future. ...
Sleep deprivation can lead to loss of concentration, and risky decision-making. Nevertheless, some people may underestimate the importance of getting quality sleep. The standard health care systems might not be suitable for long-term monitoring of sleep. As an example, the polysomnography, i.e., the gold standard for assessing sleep disorders is cumbersome, expensive, and time-consuming. As a result, portable, nonintrusive and inexpensive systems for monitoring quality of sleep are greatly needed. This paper demonstrates a novel nonintrusive system for monitoring quality of sleep using an optical fiber embedded sensor mat. The proposed system is deployed in real-life conditions over a one-month period. Three senior female residents were enrolled for the study, where the sensor mat is placed under the bed mattress. Sleep quality is assessed based on several parameters, such as duration of sleep, sleep interruption, vital signs (heart rate and respiration). The proposed system shows an agreement with a user's survey collected before the study. Furthermore, the system is integrated within an existing ambient assisted living platform with a user-friendly interface to make it more convenient for the caregivers to follow-up the sleep parameters of the residents.
