Technology Enhances Quality of Life of Seniors
Emerging technology has the potential to radically alter the experience of aging in the 21st century. Technology will help seniors remain in their houses longer by enhancing security, tracking medical information, and improving communication and social contact.
Communication Technology
More than fifty million people in the U.S. subscribe to alert services that deliver a wireless message that aid is required. The user wears a necklace or bracelet and just presses a button to assist. Unlike a phone or alarm chain, the necklace or bracelet is obviously available and is directly linked to aid that’s always offered.
Adaptive phone designs are incredibly valuable to seniors. Lots of nations, Florida one of them, provide deaf and hearing-impaired residents captioned and volume-control phones free of price. Cell phones designed for seniors possess bigger buttons and far better amplification and audio quality. Sophisticated mobile phones have zoom choices which produce the screen text bigger in addition to built-in SOS buttons; menus are simple and easy to navigate. Phones for those who have memory problems utilize the caller identification attribute to show a photo of the caller in addition to the caller’s name and connection to the older, to run a memory that is failing.
Signalers generate a visual sign for noises such as the doorbell, oven timer, or alarm clock. A similar apparatus sends a sound and visual signal once the email is delivered. Amplified alarm clocks assist individuals with mild hearing loss to wake up over time, and especially a handy feature for seniors who must take drugs during the evening time. For individuals with more profound hearing loss, bed shakers perform the waking.
Health Technology
Telehealth is the term coined for health services that are delivered via the Internet and other telecommunications technology. Telehealth can be as straightforward as email communication between physicians and patients or as complicated as an individual observation. Devices already exist which allow physicians to track seniors. Bright beds, as an instance, monitor vital signals and send them to the healthcare providers across the Internet. For general security, digital systems track the motions of seniors in their houses. Robotic nurses may shortly spare the backs of caregivers by simply performing the lifting and moving. Pillboxes that remind people when to take their tablets and other electronic medication monitoring and dispensing systems are now accessible and always improving.
Social Technology
Recent studies confirm that Internet usage reduces depression among elderly citizens. Quite a few programs utilize Internet technology to reduce the social isolation of seniors. A public-private venture in NYC, as an instance, introduces seniors to computers and Internet technology within their own houses. The Virtual Senior Center utilizes technology to enhance social connections and provide homebound seniors accessibility to neighborhood services. In a different project, a technology hotline helps seniors understand how to use the Internet. Keyboards with big keys and magnified monitors make it much easier for elderly people to use computers.
Mobility Technology
Remote-controlled walkers come when they’re called, eliminating the need for seniors to achieve for their own walkers, a significant cause of falls. Walkers with detectors can steer clear of obstacles. Bright canes can detect fluctuations in gait and stress and sound an alert in the event the consumer is at risk of falling.
Technologies for Independence
Quite a few companies and universities have taken up the challenge of creating technology to boost the quality of life for senior citizens. Their creations will help seniors stay independent longer and age.
The emerging technologies detailed in this guide might improve the lives of seniors and other homebound people in need of assistance. By improving home security and tracking significant medical information and improving communication and social interaction, aging seniors are going to have the ability to keep in their homes more.
