CE Pro February 2023 - 12

Wellscapes
HEALTHFUL LIGHTING | AIR | WATER | SOUNDS | ECOSYSTEMS
Prime Your Business
for Living-in-Place
Market Possibilities
Recent CEDIA Expo session outlines
areas for integrators to address for
delivering enhanced accessibility to
senior homeowners via connected
technology. By Nick Boever
FOR YEARS, many dealers
have claimed to be addressing
the aging-in-place
market; however, just as
many have fallen short of
being able to bring a holistic
solution to their senior
clients. While current smart
home design does lend
itself to delivering greater
accessibility through
technology that excels in
comfort and convenience,
the main issue is it requires
a deeper understanding of
life at those ages for the
solution to work properly.
If you have never experienced
certain pain-points
firsthand or even second
hand, it can be hard to
anticipate them.
At CEDIA Expo 2022 in
Dallas last fall, that topic
of accessibility was laid out
during an Innovation Hub
panel, helmed by Louie Delaware,
founder of the Living
in Place Institute, discussing
how integrators can create
these holistic offerings for
12 | CE Pro February 2023
clients with altered mobility.
Drawing from personal
experiences, either directly
or through family members,
panelists Jacob Whipple,
product marketing manager,
Snap One; Jim Hunter, CTO,
Delos; and Scott Stephenson,
director of product
management, motorization,
Hunter Douglas, along with
Delaware, offered insights
to inform more holistic technology
solutions. Here are
key takeaways.
Motorized Shading
Makes Natural Lighting
a Chore No More
No matter what age or
capability, people will often
follow the path of least
resistance. If a task becomes
too cumbersome or challenging,
one may simply opt
out of it. For seniors, this
pattern is seen constantly
with the dilemma of the
sink, where elderly individuals
may forgo hygiene
and hydration if the task of
At CEDIA Expo 2022 in Dallas, Living in Place Institute
founder Louie Delaware (far right) led a panel discussion
about holistic tech for seniors with (left to right) Hunter
Douglas' Scott Stephenson, Snap One's Jacob Whipple and
Delos' Jim Hunter. Find the full video at cepro.com/cediaexpo-22-holistic-living-in-place-tech.
reaching
the sink is viewed
as too difficult given their
limited mobility.
Shading suffers a similar
problem for those aging
in place. The scene of an
elderly individual sitting
around in darkness has less
to do with light sensitivity
and more to do with
accessibility issues related
to raising and lowering all
the shades throughout the
house each day. It can get
to the point where people
with limited mobility simply
opt to keep them closed,
viewing the task as too
much of a hassle for little
perceived benefit.
The issue is that natural
light and views are one of
the most important elements
when designing for
one's health and wellbeing.
Motorized (or automated)
shading solves this issue by
diminishing the exertion on
the part of the homeowner.
When set to a schedule by
a professional integrator,
shades can raise and lower
themselves throughout
the day without any input
needed. Even if control of
the shading is delivered via
a remote, that still provides
a far more senior-friendly
technology solution.
Simple, Personalized
Automations & Voice
Assistants Help
For those with accessibility
issues, voice instead can
become a powerful tool for
controlling home functions.
Voice assistants like Alexa,
Google Home or even more
advanced systems available
only to integrators like Josh.
AI can act as central hubs
cepro.com

http://www.cepro.com/cedia http://www.cepro.com

CE Pro February 2023

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of CE Pro February 2023