Remote monitoring and assessment of daily activities in the home environment

Background/Purpose: Quantitative analysis of daily activities measured by home monitoring systems can be helpful to assess objectively the health-related living behavior and functional ability of older adults. Advances in sensors and telecommunication technologies have prompted the concept and development of implementing diverse sensors and intelligent algorithms to monitor human/environment interactions. This paper presents the remote monitoring and assessment of daily activities of older adults living alone at home, assuming that comprehensive profiles of daily activities at home can be captured by using simple and low-cost sensors in a less diverse modality. Methods: A passive home monitoring system with a minimal set of sensing modalities, namely human infrared and electric current, was developed and used for continuous and unobtrusive monitoring of daily activities of an elderly woman for over 6 months. Four movement detectors were deployed in different indoor locations to detect active movements, and an appliance usage detector detected television use. A set of activity features that measure the intensity, regularity and abnormalities of activity patterns is defined and demonstrated to quantify the characteristics and rhythms of daily activities of the subject. Results: Different rhythms of daily activities can be estimated from different locations at home, and distinct behaviors were shown between weekdays and holidays. Unusual activities have been detected by the system, too. The system setup did not require modification of home furnishings that could obstruct the subject's daily living or cause any discomfort or displeasure to the subject. Conclusion: This study suggests that daily activities of an older adult living alone at home can be measured by means of low-cost sensors in a less-diverse sensor modality, and daily rhythms can be quantified with a simple estimation method. The activity features developed in this study are built into a home telehealth system for telecare applications. Copyright (C) 2012, Asia Pacific League of Clinical Gerontology & Geriatrics. Published by Elsevier Taiwan LLC.