Page 252 - Handbook of Electronic Assistive Technology

Chapter 8 • Assisted Living 241

There is an economic case for the current wide-scale implementation of simple, telec-
are rollout to support short- to medium-term social and health policy goals, as is currently
the case in the United Kingdom. But the wider agenda could potentially be met with aug-
mentation by a smart house implementation strategy that is driven by a whole systems
approach, allowing full benefit to be obtained from the energy management and social
and healthcare perspectives. Safety monitoring is thus best viewed in this context.

Active Support of Lifestyle

A number of the projects described combined monitoring with local programmed
responses to assist in effective and safe occupation of the living space. Some have done
this at a generic level, providing a supportive environment for a range of general disability-
oriented needs, such as in The Cedar Foundation projects. Others have been designed and
programmed to take account of specific aspects of the disability in question, such as in
the BIME smart house projects. The evidence suggests that both of these approaches work
and more importantly that they can both be freely incorporated into a living space using a
smart house infrastructure.
The ability to combine monitoring and automation in a structured way to actively sup-
port an individual in their lifestyle is a natural extension of the application of smart home
technology, offering a number of benefits:

1� Provides direct compensation for physical and cognitive deficits.
2� Manages risks associated with physical and cognitive deficits.
3� Monitors and responds to progression of a condition or generally deteriorating health
status.
4� Monitors and responds to recovery from a condition or generally improving health
status.

This approach has been applied to varying degrees within a number of the reported
projects. Within the Millennium Homes Project the technology was used to address a
number of general well-being concerns with the use of voice prompts and monitoring user
response to these. The systems designed by BIME provide interaction by voice feedback
and external alarm triggering, based on a series of scenarios developed from individual
needs assessments. The system used in the Tayside challenging behaviour projects pro-
vides a fully configurable alarming strategy that allows carers to plan responses based on
assessed need and rapidly changing circumstances. A number of dedicated, standalone
systems have been designed to support cognitive deficit. These have been referred to as
both cognitive orthoses and cognitive prostheses, and they demonstrate ways in which
effective, interactive technologies can support cognitive deficit (Gillespie et al., 2012).
Much of what is described in these approaches can be implemented effectively within a
smart home infrastructure. The programming flexibility of a smart house system allows it
to be tailored to meet individual needs, both passing and receiving information to actively
support occupant lifestyle. A firm appreciation of what aspects of user function require
augmentation or replacement allows a system to be suitably configured (Gentry, 2009).