Topic Deep-dives.
Welcome to the Tech-enhanced Life guide to medical alert systems & services for older adults. (These products are also known as personal emergency response systems, or PERS.) This guide is designed to help you answer the question: “Which medical alert system is right for me?” If you are looking for independent, objective evaluations of … Read more
Our team of clinicians and citizen analysts has scoured the web for the best available answers to a set of questions designed to help you make falling less likely, and make the consequences if you do fall less bad.
One of the biggest concerns as we grow older is remaining relatively independent, and avoiding reliance on the “kindness of strangers”. Luckily, an emerging crop of products and services have the potential to help with that. This Topic Hub is the place to start to see our research on the topic of staying independent for … Read more
This is the topic hub where we collect the results of our explorations and research relating to hearing. The theme is seeking tools and gadgets that can postpone the time at which hearing issues get in the way of living life. As we grow older, hearing often deteriorates. If left unaddressed, hearing issues can … Read more
We are exploring ways to optimize brain fitness and memory — looking for ideas about how to push cognitive impairment as far into the future as we can. And we are exploring dementia technology — looking for gadgets that can help older adults function independently as long as possible. We think the right gadgets and … Read more
A big focus of Tech-enhanced Life’s work is finding ways technology-based products can improve the quality of life for all of as we age. But often, for those products to be useful, older adults need to make some changes to their way of life and learn new things. Sometimes, people need some help and … Read more
Being free to get from one place to another when you want is a very important ingredient of an independent life. But it becomes harder as you get older — and either can’t (or don’t want to) drive anymore, or can’t walk as far as you used to. We are exploring solutions to these challenges. This … Read more
Most older adults we talk to would like to “stay independent” for as long as possible. And when we probe what that really means, it usually is about maintaining some level of autonomy and control over one’s destiny as long as possible. Whether it’s how we are cared for after a medical emergency, … Read more
We think artificial intelligence, smart home technologies, and robots have the potential to enable older adults to live independently for longer, and have better quality of life than they would without these gadgets. We are evaluating products as they come to market, and sharing what we learn about which products are best for … Read more
Who wants to wear “old people clothes“? This is a common sentiment among the older adults who come to our Longevity Explorer meetings or read this website, especially when the discussion turns to clothes that fall into the category of “adaptive clothing“. On the other hand, there are many situations where clothing designed for … Read more