Technology and Aging: Ubiquitous Sensing Technology for Aging Research

Advances in Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) are impacting aging research in multiple ways, ranging from analyzing large volumes of data from longitudinal studies to assessing the efficacy of assistive robots. This chapter focuses on using ubiquitous technologies for gathering behavioral data from individuals to understand how we age, assess the effectiveness of interventions, perform early diagnosis of diseases, or monitor disease progression. The ubiquity of inexpensive sensors, most notably in mobile and wearable devices, and advances in pattern recognition algorithms capable of reliably inferring activities and behavior is providing a new and powerful tool for aging research. We describe how these technologies can be used to monitor clinical variables and health outcomes in interventions for aging and illustrate their use with case studies on assessing frailty, inferring anxiety in caregivers of people with dementia and monitoring eating behaviors. We conclude by discussing some of the issues facing research in this area regarding data quality and privacy.