For a brief moment during CES 2017 this past week, I wished I was much older so I could utilize the cool technology being developed for the elderly.
Seriously, despite technology being associated and used most by young people, what really stood out to me was the number of mass-market products being developed for the elderly community. I hadn’t really given much thought before to elderly-focused technology, and it was genuinely cool to see that there were companies looking out for a population that can sometimes be overlooked.
There were dozens of products that stood out, but three really struck me as having the real potential to improve the lives of millions of elderly people around the world.
A smart… cane?
The first comes all the way from a French startup, Nov’in, with their Smartcane. You heard me correctly—it’s a new and improved cane. Nov’in decided that the centuries-old technology was badly in need of an update, and their Smartcane comes equipped with a gyroscope and accelerometer, allowing their system to track movement and detect falls.
When a fall occurs, the Smartcane will alert a caregiver, who can either call to see if the person is alright or contact help. We’ve seen similar concepts in products like Life Alert, which helps the elderly call for help if they’ve fallen, but these products all have one problem: what if it’s in the other room when you fall? If you are someone who uses a cane, however, chances are you aren’t forgetting it in the other room. So, I love the innovation that the Smartcane offers to this age-old problem.
Paging Dr. Samsung
The second piece of technology I’m excited about comes to us from Samsung’s C Lab and it’s called the S Skin. The S Skin scans your skin (say that three times fast) to measure your current hydration, melanin, and redness through a combination of cameras, light sensors, and conductivity sensors. It can tell you what your skin is lacking, offer up a light-based care program (whose effectiveness I’m rather skeptical of), and will come with micro-needle patches that can deliver appropriate nutrient packs directly to the skin (whose effectiveness I’m decidedly not skeptical of).
You might be saying to yourself, “Well, can’t anyone benefit from this product?” Yes, but I think it is something especially beneficial and targeted at an older demographic—those experiencing the unpleasant effects of wrinkles.
Can you hear me now?
Lastly (and to me most importantly) is the Oticon Opn hearing aid. Old hearing aid technology is generally limited to directional hearing, meaning you can only hear what you are facing. The Oticon Opn is different—it allows the user to hear sounds from all around without feeling an overwhelming drowning of sound, opening them up to a world of possibility.
That alone is cool, but there is an even bigger innovation in the Oticon Opn that really only could’ve happened in confluence with the smarthome: the Oticon Opn allows the user to connect their hearing aids directly to their TV (or radio if it’s smart enough) and adjust the sound directly. They also connect to your phone with the same usability.
But, wait—there’s more!
They connect to the IFTTT (if this then that) network. Want the lights to turn on automatically when you switch on your hearing aids? Want to be notified via your hearing aid when someone’s at the door? All that and more is possible with the smarthome.
Hype or hope?
And I know what you are thinking—all of this technology is inherently doomed to fail since the elderly generally don’t adopt technology.
But, that’s a stereotype. If enough time is spent helping them learn the heuristics, then they’ll use it. My guess is that assisted living communities will implement new technologies on a wide scale, since they really know their occupants well and have the time to devote to helping them learn how to use new devices that will ultimately save staff time and energy.
I was encouraged to see so many products at CES targeting older demographics and can’t wait to get back to work helping get these new technologies in the hands of users. Getting old will never be fun, but if these groups have their say, it’s definitely going to be more enjoyable.