Tech-savvy seniors: smart home technology for older people

Open wardrobes with built-in lights can make life easier for people with poor eyesight or visual impairments.

The phrase "smart home" conjures up images of lighting and heating controlled by a tablet; switching the oven on with your phone on the way home so that it's already warm when you arrive. 

But in reality, smart homes are not just about the latest hand-held gadgets. They can include any technology designed to make life easier, more comfortable and more secure – which makes them particularly useful for older people.

Typically, smart home technologies include automatic window openers, programmable heaters and electrical appliances such as ovens and washing machines which can be controlled remotely using a smartphone, tablet or computer.

There are other applications too – electrically adjustable seats or the emergency button that some older people wear. These devices are often called "everyday assistance solutions."

"These are something for elderly or disabled people who, for example, might not use a smartphone," says Falko Weidelt, an expert in smart home technology at the Elektro+ initiative in Berlin, Germany.

"For all elderly people, safety is a very big issue," adds Ursula Geismann, spokeswoman for the German Furniture Industry Association. Smart home solutions include burglary protection – for example, motion detection cameras or sensors that sound an alarm when a window is accidentally left open.

There are also lighting control systems that can automatically turn on the lights when someone enters the room – useful for people who are unsteady on their feet or on crutches as they don't have to press a light switch. There are even cupboards that turn on an internal light when you open the door.

Things like this can all help older people to live longer in their homes. The technology can also be useful in the care of dementia patients, Geismann says: "There are presence controls that can show you where your father is in the house."

And there are bathroom mirrors with built-in screens that can remind residents to take their tablets.

"There are also sensors that can determine whether someone is moving normally over the ground or has fallen," says Bernd Dechert from ZVEH, the German association of electrical and IT industries.

"In the future, entire buildings will be equipped with sensors so that individual monitoring is possible," he says. That means more people will be able to stay in their homes in accordance with their habits and illnesses.

But the smart home doesn't have to mean major installations – robot vacuum cleaners, robot lawn mowers and electrically adjustable furniture can also be smart helpers in everyday life. "To me, this is also a smart home," Geismann says. — dpa