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HomeSense: Home Sensing for Better Health at Home
What is the HomeSense System?
The HomeSense System is a set of sensors that collect and wirelessly send information about activities that occur in your home to a computer database.
What information is the HomeSense System collecting?
The system only collects information about your daily activities. The system will keep a record of when you do the following things:
- Open your refrigerator door
- Open your pantry door
- Use your washing machine or dishwasher
- Enter your shower
- Flush your toilet Use kitchen appliances including but not limited to your coffee maker, blender, microwave, or can opener
- Use large kitchen appliances including your oven and stovetop
- Spend time in each room of your home
- Open your medicine cabinet
- Come into your home or leave your home
- Lay or sit on your bed or sofa
- Turn your TV on
How does the HomeSense System collect that information?
The HomeSense System cannot take videos or hear what you are saying. The system:
- Senses motion in each room
- Senses electricity when you use kitchen appliances, washing machines, and TVs
- Senses pressure when you sit or lie on chairs or beds
- Senses contact between doors and door frames or cabinets and cabinet frames to detect opening or closing
How and where will the HomeSense System be installed?
The sensors will be installed in various locations throughout the home by trained
members of the HomeSense research team.
After the system is installed, a team member will show you where each sensor is located
in your home and will show you how to view the information that is being collected
on your personal computer.
What is the purpose of this Research Study?
The objectives of this study are:
- To understand how simple sensors can give us information about in-home activities of older adults.
- To understand how well the sensor system is able to detect changes in health.
- To understand how we can develop sensor systems to assist older adults maintain their independence.
What does participation look like?
- A passive sensor system is installed in the eligible participants home and relays information to a wireless device that connects to your internet service. The sensors run on battery power so it does not cost you anything to participate in the study.
- The system will track various activities of daily living but DOES NOT track or record any sound, images, or video. The activity levels are then transformed into charts like the one above, which you can view online. You can also share this with a family member that might be distant or a trusted friend or a neighbor.
Who is eligible to participate?
We are currently enrolling individuals who meet the following criteria:
- Age 55 or older.
- Live alone in your residence.
- Have internet service installed in your home.
- Do not own a pet (small birds or fish being an exception).
- Live in The Villages year-round and not planning to travel for an extended amount of time during the next 6-8 months.
If you would like more information please contact us at:
Phone: (352) 888-4959 or Email: createhealthusf@gmail.com