Automated In-Home Fall Risk Assessment and Detection Sensor System for Elders

Abstract

Purpose of the study: Falls are a major problem for the elderly people leading to injury, disability, and even death. An unobtrusive, in-home sensor system that continuously monitors older adults for fall risk and detects falls could revolutionize fall prevention and care.

Design and methods: A fall risk and detection system was developed and installed in the apartments of 19 older adults at a senior living facility. The system includes pulse-Doppler radar, a Microsoft Kinect, and 2 web cameras. To collect data for comparison with sensor data and for algorithm development, stunt actors performed falls in participants' apartments each month for 2 years and participants completed fall risk assessments (FRAs) using clinically valid, standardized instruments. The FRAs were scored by clinicians and recorded by the sensing modalities. Participants' gait parameters were measured as they walked on a GAITRite mat. These data were used as ground truth, objective data to use in algorithm development and to compare with radar and Kinect generated variables.

Results: All FRAs are highly correlated (p < .01) with the Kinect gait velocity and Kinect stride length. Radar velocity is correlated (p < .05) to all the FRAs and highly correlated (p < .01) to most. Real-time alerts of actual falls are being sent to clinicians providing faster responses to urgent situations.

Implications: The in-home FRA and detection system has the potential to help older adults remain independent, maintain functional ability, and live at home longer.

Keywords: Automated algorithms; Fall detection; Fall risk; Falls.

© The Author 2015. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The Gerontological Society of America. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Figures

Figure 1.

Sensor network.

Figure 2.

Radar installed in apartment.

Figure 3.

Kinect installed in apartment.

Figure 4.

Three sequential depth images from the Microsoft Kinect showing an actual elderly resident fall in an apartment. The figure can be seen in contrasting color in the center of the images. The resident uses a walker.