People with mild dementia may live more independently as an assistance technology parallel to their progress conditions, according to new research by Alisha Pradhan, university lecturer in computer science at the New Jersey Institute of Technology.
Pradhan and Clemson University Assistant Professor Emma Dixon his main researchers on a three -year National Science Foundation Grant, Future evidence for age -related changing cognitive skills using smart objects such as auxiliary technologiesWith every school that receives $ 300,000.
When we think of dementia, we just think of cognitive skills. But sometimes their physical skills can also change. In the morning they might read something in a font of 12 points, but by the evening they might want a really big font, or things like that. With dementia, individuals experience not only changes in cognitive skills, but also other sensory changes over time. But the interesting thing is that people have an idea about how they want to be future -proof, how they can prepare and how they can organize or manage their current lives in a way that would also help them in the future. “
Alisha Pradhan, university lecturer in Informatics, New Jersey Institute of Technology
Cognitively disabled people can do the utmost to make the world meet their needs. Pradhan said that during the first investigation she interviewed a person with dementia who trained his dog to obey the command of an Amazon Alexa, who told the dog when the man’s medicine had to be taken. “People know what they want and how they can organize their environment and technology to achieve this,” she noticed.
As such, the researchers will work on technology that users can adjust themselves. The project will explore three phases. In phase one they will interview to identify contexts in which older people with cognitive disorders need help. Phase two will involve users in the co-design of tools that can increase daily objects to offer help. Training materials will also be designed at the moment. The Pradhan team has already developed the basis for various physical prototypes, such as a doormat that you remind you of what you should take when leaving the house and a plant holder who sends a warning when it is time to water. “We will use them as provocative examples for people with dementia to think about what they can build if something was so adjustable,” Pradhan explained. The final phase is an assessment of use and the impact of future -proof strategies.
Pradhan said she is cautiously optimistic about the plan. “Many of the components are already available. Everyone can get these simple sensors and microcontrollers from Amazon and if we fit our own aid technology,” she said. She also observed a side benefit to do her work in a place like Njit – it teaches both student developers and researchers a broader lesson about considering the needs of consumers who belong to themselves. For example, she said, most speech recognition systems are trained in the speech of people in the twenty or 30s. This makes up for the systems for some, but it can make them less accurate for older users with different speech patterns, leading to more errors and user frustration.
Moreover, people with dementia are more often than the general population to experience depression, said Pradhan. “Here technology, in particular technologies that can adapt to the individual person with dementia, support independence and even enable them to undertake activities that they find useful, and as such can have a significant influence on their mental and physical health , “she said.
Others at NJIT also work on research for seniors. Association teacher Michael Lee, an earlier employee at Pradhan, is planning to teach older residents of Newark to cod. David Lubliner from Senior University, at the School of Applied Engineering and Technology, gives a Geriatric Engineering course. Njit’s Murray Center for Women In Technology, Chitra Dorai, founder of a company, invited AI to help people with neurodegenerative disorders, to speak at their spring 2025 event.
“As researchers, we often take what older people want, what people with dementia want, and often research has recently proven us that this is not the case. We build the latest, chicest medication memory, and then when we go and implement It, we really see that people may not be so interested to use it, “Pradhan added. “So giving our users – who will use these technologies – a control, having that agency in building their systems, will tell us a lot about the type of systems that we should build.”