Instrumentation & Measurement Magazine 24-6 - 3

guesteditorial
Bruce Wallace and Frank Knoefel
Measurement Systems for Cognitive/Well-Being
Assessment within Smart Homes
W
e are all experiencing the evolution of Sensors
and increasing levels of automation enabled by
Smart Homes connected to cloud intelligence.
These can provide convenience (automatic lights) and efficiency
(lower thermostat at night) in our day to day lives.
These technologies are now being applied to solutions that go
well beyond convenience to now proactively support the independence
of individuals as they age. This requires sensors
and sensor processing methods to measure and assess meaningful
attributes of well-being. There are a number of activities
that older adults perform that would be worth measuring, a
number of sensors and sensor combinations that would be appropriate
to do the measuring, and then different data analytic
techniques to produce useable information.
This special edition explores these issues in a little more
depth. The potential for technology to directly address the
needs and challenges aging adults face in their day to day lives
is also leading to the formation of multi-disciplinary teams
that bring together the skills and expertise of clinicians and
care providers with engineers and data scientists. This is demonstrated
by the numerous physician and medical co-authors
within the papers as they bring their insights and expertise to
focus the technology on solutions that directly help people.
This special issue offers an overview of the evolution of
these technologies starting from new applications of sensors
and sensor processing for novel measurements of well being
through to holistic systems of sensors that monitor the complete
residence and even a vehicle.
The first group of papers addresses older adult functioning.
The first activity domain important to older adults is mobility.
" On the Assessment and Reliability of Assistive Technology:
The Case of Falls and Postural Sway Monitoring " by Andò et
al. discusses how technology can be used to measure fall risk.
While detecting falls has merit, preventing falls through early
intervention could be even better.
There are a number of papers that address the next geriatric
giant, namely cognition. " Measuring Cognitive Status from
Speech in a Smart Home Environment " by Fraser and Komeili
discusses an emerging new sensor and processing method for
speech assessment. Changes in cognition can affect speech patterns,
and again early detection of these changes could lead to
early intervention.
September 2021
The paper " DTCoach: Your Digital Twin Coach on the
Edge During COVID-19 and Beyond " by Díaz et al. discusses
how smart phones can provide a platform for activity
analysis. Similar to changes in speech, changes in executive
functioning could be detected in smart phone use and
coaching feedback could be provided to improve activity
and actions.
The next paper looks at other cognitive domains that can
be affected by normal or pathologic aging. " Predicting Engagement
in Older Adults With and Without Dementia While
Playing Mobile Games " by Miguel-Cruz et al. shows how socalled
serious games are emerging as an assessment method.
In addition to providing enjoyment, electronic games can also
provide ongoing assessment of cognitive dimensions like processing
speed. One of the benefits of serious games is that they
can continue to be used in more advanced forms of cognitive
decline.
Finally, the paper " Smart Home Technologies for Cognitive
Assessment in Healthcare " by Lombardo discusses how smart
home systems can be applied and the systems adapted for the
challenge of in-home ambient cognitive assessment.
The next group of papers looks at the integration of sensors
and data analytic techniques.
The paper " Human Activity Recognition with Device-Free
Sensors for Well-Being Assessment in Smart Homes " by Raeis,
Kazemi and Shirmohammadi discusses the potential for the
recognition of activity through the fusion and analysis of information
sensors placed though-out the residence.
The paper " Assessment of Domestic Well-Being: From
Perception to Measurement " by Casaccia et al. discusses the
potential and challenges from ambient home monitoring systems
as many measures are only an indirect measure of activity
and behavior and this leads to a need for fusion of sensors to
determine activity.
The paper " Home-Based Assessment of Cognition and
Health Measures: The Collaborative Aging Research Using
Technology (CART) Initiative and International Collaborations "
by Thomas et al. discusses a multi-nation project that
brings together home, vehicle and wearable sensors on a common
platform.
The paper " The Assessment of Cognitive and Physical
Well-Being through Ambient Sensor Measures of Movement
IEEE Instrumentation & Measurement Magazine
3
Instrumentation & Measurement Magazine 24-6

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Instrumentation & Measurement Magazine 24-6
