This includes research that looked at user attitude and acceptance and examined social
factors which appropriately supports the relationship between users and service providers [23]. The third way is to listen to older people’s needs and develop, optimize the
technologies in specific orientation. Because some older adults experience a misfit
between technology and needs, they must see the value of a device to use it [24]. The
research reported on in this paper follows the third way, which looks into older people’s detailed and specific needs at the beginning. the paper reviews the existed smart
home and assistive technologies that cope with the needs, moreover, the direction of
technologies’ innovation.
To investigate older people’s needs, much of the extant research reports on projects
that chose the direct way, either by observing the phenomena or by analyzing data and
transcript: 11 research reports tested the needs by enrolling older people into a clinical
trial, project and intervention/control group to be observed and tested for the performance in real scenario; 20 research reports acquired the answer by questionnaire,
survey, face-to-face or telephone interview, and derive the information from the data.
The existing literature reports on research that identified older people’s needs of
sight/vision assistance technology, long-term pain and rehabilitation management,
mood recording/management technology, medication reminder/treatment, nurse call
system, general health monitoring and cognitive ability assistance technology. We
found the focus was mostly on the need for sight/vision assistance technology (represented 25% in this category), medication reminder/treatment (represented 22% in this
category) and general health monitoring technology (represented 14% in this category).
At this point, the highly recommended technologies were low vision assistive devices
[25], health monitoring robots [26] and e-readers [27].
As for the needs for leisure, research results indicated that older people had the
need for general recreational/entertainment technology, tailored games, sports assistive
technology, musical instrument playing assistance, television and radio, travel assistance and education technology. We found that tailored games attracted 33% of
research focus, which was the most needed by older people in this category. It was
followed by 21% research results seeking for the technology for playing musical
instrument. Game system, movie/music player [8], and entertainment console [28] were
the most preferred.
The very significant category, living, represented of almost half of older people’s
needs towards smart home and assistive technologies. To be specific, walking and
mobility assistance were the most focused (represented 25% in this category), followed
by smart cooking/kitchen technology (represented 13% in this category). Older people
had a rather broad range of needs in everyday living, including automatic control
technology for home appliance, gardening/farming assistance, smart cooking/kitchen
technology, toilet use assistance, cleaning and laundry assistance, reaching and
grasping technology, shower assistance, dressing assistance, walking and mobility
assistance, eating reminder and assistance and item locating system. Researchers found
physical activity stimulation, home automation [27], smart power outlet, universal
remote control [29] to be appropriate for older people.
Safety is a critical aspect for older people’s both indoor and outdoor activities.
according to identified papers, older people were concerned about overall sense of
safety, falling prevention, reminder for declined memory, home/location finding
Older People’s Needs and Opportunities for Assistive Technologies
409
factors which appropriately supports the relationship between users and service providers [23]. The third way is to listen to older people’s needs and develop, optimize the
technologies in specific orientation. Because some older adults experience a misfit
between technology and needs, they must see the value of a device to use it [24]. The
research reported on in this paper follows the third way, which looks into older people’s detailed and specific needs at the beginning. the paper reviews the existed smart
home and assistive technologies that cope with the needs, moreover, the direction of
technologies’ innovation.
To investigate older people’s needs, much of the extant research reports on projects
that chose the direct way, either by observing the phenomena or by analyzing data and
transcript: 11 research reports tested the needs by enrolling older people into a clinical
trial, project and intervention/control group to be observed and tested for the performance in real scenario; 20 research reports acquired the answer by questionnaire,
survey, face-to-face or telephone interview, and derive the information from the data.
The existing literature reports on research that identified older people’s needs of
sight/vision assistance technology, long-term pain and rehabilitation management,
mood recording/management technology, medication reminder/treatment, nurse call
system, general health monitoring and cognitive ability assistance technology. We
found the focus was mostly on the need for sight/vision assistance technology (represented 25% in this category), medication reminder/treatment (represented 22% in this
category) and general health monitoring technology (represented 14% in this category).
At this point, the highly recommended technologies were low vision assistive devices
[25], health monitoring robots [26] and e-readers [27].
As for the needs for leisure, research results indicated that older people had the
need for general recreational/entertainment technology, tailored games, sports assistive
technology, musical instrument playing assistance, television and radio, travel assistance and education technology. We found that tailored games attracted 33% of
research focus, which was the most needed by older people in this category. It was
followed by 21% research results seeking for the technology for playing musical
instrument. Game system, movie/music player [8], and entertainment console [28] were
the most preferred.
The very significant category, living, represented of almost half of older people’s
needs towards smart home and assistive technologies. To be specific, walking and
mobility assistance were the most focused (represented 25% in this category), followed
by smart cooking/kitchen technology (represented 13% in this category). Older people
had a rather broad range of needs in everyday living, including automatic control
technology for home appliance, gardening/farming assistance, smart cooking/kitchen
technology, toilet use assistance, cleaning and laundry assistance, reaching and
grasping technology, shower assistance, dressing assistance, walking and mobility
assistance, eating reminder and assistance and item locating system. Researchers found
physical activity stimulation, home automation [27], smart power outlet, universal
remote control [29] to be appropriate for older people.
Safety is a critical aspect for older people’s both indoor and outdoor activities.
according to identified papers, older people were concerned about overall sense of
safety, falling prevention, reminder for declined memory, home/location finding
Older People’s Needs and Opportunities for Assistive Technologies
409