Designing calm and non-intrusive ambient assisted living system for monitoring nighttime wanderings

Abstract

Purpose Assistive living technologies provide support for specific activities, transforming a home into a smart home. The purpose of this paper is to present how to design, implement, deploy and install a personalized ambient support system for the elderly suffering from Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and nighttime wandering. Design/methodology/approach The intervention presented in this paper proceeds in two phases. During the monitoring phase, the system determines the profile of the person with AD, based on nighttime routines. Data are gathered from sensors dispatched in the smart home, coupled with physiological data obtained from sensors worn by the person. Data are then classified to determine engine rules that will provide assistance to the resident to satisfy their needs. During the second phase, smart assistance is provided to the person via environmental cues by triggering rules based on the person’s habits and the activities occurring during night. Findings The paper develops the architecture of a non-intrusive system that integrates heterogeneous technologies to provide a calm environment during night and limit wandering periods. Practical implications The goal is to help people age well at home as long as possible and recover a regular circadian cycle while providing more comfort to the caregiver. Originality/value The system presented in this paper offers a calm and personalized environment with music and visual icons to soothe persons with AD and encourage them to go back to bed. It is installed at the patient’s home using wireless technologies.

Intelligent Sensing Technologies for the Diagnosis, Monitoring and Therapy of Alzheimer’s Disease: A Systematic Review

“…Night-time wanderings are another common characteristic of Alzheimer’s patients. Radziszewski et al [ 40 ] devised a system that tries to detect a night-time wandering of patients and tries to return them to their bed. The study included a single participant, a female aged 78 years old.…”

“…The monitoring of the mobility and daily activities of the patients can help in assessing the autonomy, abnormal behaviours and functional decline [ 37 , 39 , 41 ] of Alzheimer’s patients. The monitoring of daily activities can also aid in assisting caregivers, alerting them during abnormal activities or risky situations such as falls and night-time wanderings [ 40 ]. The provision of assistance in daily tasks, such as cleaning, cooking etc., such as that in [ 38 ] through automated recorded messages can enhance the confidence of the elderly patients, ensuring autonomy and self-reliance.…”

Context awareness architecture for ambient-assisted living applications: Case study of nighttime wandering

“…The NAS aims to detect the onset of episodes of wandering in order to provide assistance during night. 17 It meets the needs arising when people are awake at night and encourages people to go back to bed. It is designed using a ubiquitous and ambient approach to create an environment that is sensitive to the presence of a person.…”

“…[14][15][16] A contextual assistance system is therefore useful to create a calm environment that diminishes anxiety and encourages people to go back to sleep. This article describes, on the one hand, how the nighttime wandering assistance system (NAS) 17 has been improved to take into account the situation of the senior. On the other hand, it describes the experimental procedure undertaken to assist a senior with Alzheimer's dementia during nocturnal wandering episodes and the results of the six-week experiment.…”

Ambientes multissensoriais aplicados à saúde: desenvolvimento de aplicações e tendências futuras

“…Esta tarefa é em geral de membros da família ou de profissionais contratados. Em especial, o cuidador familiar está mais suscetível a diversas patologias a decorrer do impacto que esta tarefa tem na privação de tempo e de suas atividades [Radziszewski et al 2017].…”