Most of our research is designed to help older adults and their families make decisions and choices about topics that impact quality of life as we grow older.
This page is for older adults and their families and caregivers who are looking for solutions to challenges that come with growing older. We especially like products and services that can help older adults live independently for longer.
Our most popular “Recommendations, Reviews, & Actionable Advice” are below. They are organized by “Topic Hub“. Click on each Topic Hub below to see various articles and reviews and research.
Topic Hubs
Medical Alert Systems: Selection Guide
Medical Alert Systems selection guide. Independent, objective, comparative evaluations, reviews, and online tutorials and lecture. Includes actual hands-on testing.
Falling: How to Avoid
Read the “best of the web” on: Avoiding Falling. 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.
Tools to Live Independently Longer
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 longer.
Hearing
As we grow older, hearing often deteriorates. If left unaddressed, hearing issues can make it harder to interact with others, and can lead to social isolation and even to depression. Luckily, there are various tools and assistive devices that can help compensate for imperfect hearing, including hearables, amplifiers, hearing aids, hearing apps, and a variety of more or less complex hearing devices. We are exploring them, and collecting what we learn on this Topic Hub.
Brain, Memory, Dementia Technology
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 Apps should help caregivers and family members minimize the burdens associated with caring for older adults with cognitive impairment. So, we are looking for these innovations too.
Technology: Using It, Choosing It, Finding Support
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 advice with that.
Transportation & Mobility Tech
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 is our Topic Hub for coverage of things related to getting around and mobility tech.
Planning, Documentation, Expert Help
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. Accomplishing this requires planning ahead, and documenting what you want. It usually also requires judicious use of various expert helpers as we start becoming less and less able to “do everything”. This Topic Hub is where we collect our exploration into topics like which experts might be useful to retain what sort of “planning” should you be doing and why; and how do you document what you want — so that if you are not in a position to make last minute decisions, they still get made the way you would wish.
Smart Home, Artificial Intelligence, Robots
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 different types of people on this “Topic Hub”.
Clothing and Older Adults
Who wants to wear “old people clothes”? This is a common sentiment among the older adults in the Longevity Explorer community, especially when the discussion turns to clothes that fall into the category of “adaptive clothing“. But we do want clothing that has specific functions that help it adapt to some of the physical and mental changes that occur as we age — such as arthritis or tremor.
This is the “Topic Hub” where we collect the results of our explorations into clothing for older adults — ideally both stylish and “adaptive”.
Social Isolation and Loneliness
Social Isolation and Loneliness have attracted lots of media attention recently due to the large negative impact that being lonely and lacking human interactions can have on quality of life. This is our “Topic Hub” where we collect our research and exploration into Loneliness and Social Isolation. We are especially focused on ways to combat loneliness and avoid social isolation.
Vision
As we grow older, vision deteriorates. It starts with needing reading glasses (presbyopia) — which afflicts most of us over the age of fifty. And various eye conditions, like cataracts and macular degeneration, can make seeing clearly increasingly difficult as we age. Luckily, there are various tools and assistive devices that can help compensate for imperfect vision, including magnifiers, low vision apps, and a variety of more or less complex low vision devices. We are exploring them, and collecting what we learn on this Topic Hub.
Everyday Objects that Improve Life
Improving the design of everyday objects like jar openers, nail clippers, and other household appliances and gadgets can greatly improve the quality of life of older adults as they develop conditions like arthritis, tremors, or other physical and mental limitations that come with age. Together with our Longevity Explorers, we are evaluating products in this “everyday object” category, and sharing what we learn.
Retirement & Senior Living Choices: A Guide
Whether you call it senior living, retirement living, aging in place, or just finding a nice place to live when you get older, where and how to live is a super important question for older adults.
Medication Management Guide: Tools & Strategies
Medication Management Guide: Tools & Strategies. Research from Tech-enhanced Life into Medication apps, pill organizers, medication reminders, and medication lists. Comparative evaluations and reviews.
Useful Apps: Older Adults, Seniors & Boomers
Discover Useful Apps for Seniors and Boomers. Reviews, analysis, tutorials for older adults who want to turn their smartphone or tablet into a useful tool.