Progress and trends in application of wearable technology for elderly population
Significance In order to provide a more secure and healthy life for the elderly population increasing,innovative wearable products with the advantages of real-time,continuity,and environmental awareness are developed to support older people′s health monitoring,well-being,and independence.It promises to be an effective way to alleviate the issue of social stress at old age.However,there are significant restrictions on creating intelligent wearable designs for seniors.For instance,most wearable devices are not truly created with the needs of the elderly in mind.As an important aspect,smart wearables should be made to take care of the unique needs of the elderly population.It is hoped that this study will,to a certain extent,contribute to the innovation and development of age-friendly smart wearable technology devices and provide a theoretical basis for optimizing services for elderly users in the context of an aging population.Progress The current situation of age-friendly wearable research in recent years is reviewed.A framework diagram of age-friendly innovative wearable research development is proposed,including the human body layer,product layer,functional layer,and industrial ecology layer.Firstly,the human body layer outlines the changes in the characteristics of the elderly group from 3 perspectives:physiological,psychological,and social attributes.As people age,their bones,bodies,and physical abilities change.They also become more susceptible to negative emotions,and their social roles alter,affecting their mentality and ideas about consuming.Then,concerning the current state of research on intelligent wearable products for the elderly,the vital technical approaches to research age-appropriate innovative wearable products are analyzed from the product level.The seven dimensions are sensors,materials,morphology,structure and interaction methods,functional algorithms,and evaluation methods,of which the most important are sensor type and placement structure and interaction methods.Secondly,the existing research on smart wearable designs suitable for the elderly population is summarized in five functional layers:physiological system,neurological system,motor system,emotional system,and spatial mobility system,and the current design paradigms of age-friendly smart wearable products are summarized based on the current development status of the six industrial ecological layers.Conclusion and Prospect From a review of relevant researches,researchers have paid attention to the use of wearable technology to improve the quality of aging development.However,the following areas for improvement still exist in the current research.Few wearable products are genuine"age-friendly"in design,and they do not fundamentally focus on the needs of the elderly.The design of wearable products for the elderly,the integration of electronic components with the human body and the comfort and convenience of wearing them still need further research.At the same time,more wearable products are currently designed to meet the physical health needs of the elderly,with less attention paid to mental health.Therefore,efforts can be made in the following aspects of future research.(1)The functions of wearable devices for the elderly should be from the perspective of the practical needs of the elderly and have a certain degree of relevance.(2)The accuracy and real-time requirements of intelligent wearable devices for information collection are the most important,which is the root cause of the absolute practicality of the product.(3)Older people can only replenish their power supply energy sometimes and anywhere,thus posing new challenges to the endurance of intelligent wearable devices.(4)Older users must be allowed to always wear the device independently while meeting the needs of older people who can easily and quickly understand its use.(5)Privacy and security.How to ensure the privacy and security of the elderly population during use is a crucial focus for future research.(6)Most of the consumers in the elderly group have the concept of frugal consumption,so the design and production of wearable products should be reasonably priced to reduce the burden of use on the elderly consumer group.