Smart Home Solutions for Aging in Place: Any Device Can Be a Senior-Friendly Device

The main use cases for the smart home are well-known: some consumers want to keep their families and belongings safe with smart locks and cameras and the like, while others want to use smart lighting, smart thermostats, and smart plugs to reduce their energy use. Many users also just want the convenience of remotely monitoring their homes, switching off lights and heating systems, and ensuring that everything is as it should be when they aren’t home.

These convenience-enhancing use cases can also help older people and those with disabilities age in place, manage chronic conditions, or increase accessibility. For example, a caregiver or family member can use an Amazon Echo smart speaker, with or without a screen, to call their loved one, schedule appointments or deliveries, or otherwise help them manage the activities of daily living (ADLs). While this blog post focuses on solutions for older consumers specifically, these use cases also apply to those with physical and developmental disabilities.

Senior Tech Hasn’t Taken Off, Because No One Designs Well for Seniors

Most smart devices aimed specifically at older consumers haven’t established themselves, for a number of reasons. The popular narrative that older adults are more resistant to technology is more perception than reality: research by AARP consistently finds similar levels of tech adoption among adults over 50 as among those aged 18-49. While older adults’ confidence in their own tech literacy declines with age, an equally important factor is that this cohort doesn’t believe the technology is built with them in mind.

Luckily, the principles of designing tech for older consumers are easy to implement. In their book Designing User Interfaces for an Aging Population: Towards Universal Design, authors Jeff Johnson and Kate Finn describe how the vision, hearing, and hand-eye coordination of older adults, among other characteristics, affect how they use digital interfaces, and how youth-centered design can leave them frustrated and unwilling to engage with tech. The authors’ case studies also demonstrate that designing for older consumers not only provides a better experience for everyone but also makes it easier for companies to meet their revenue or customer targets by facilitating new sales channels across more diverse sets of customers.

Smart Home Tech Can Be Senior Tech Too

A recent article in The Verge describes how the author used smart home devices to care for her mother, who was in her 90s. For example, Amazon’s Echo Show smart speaker, which also has a screen, let her set reminders and make video calls using the Drop In feature. Several people interviewed for the piece had bought multiple Echo Shows, one for each room, so they could video call their loved ones.

Smart cameras with two-way audio can fulfill the same function as the Echo Show’s Drop In feature, by letting the user and the older person communicate directly. When an older person has had a fall, cameras with playback capabilities can allow users to remotely access video and audio of the fall and decide whether to call emergency services. Meanwhile, Bluetooth-enabled smart tags like Tiles and Apple AirTags can help older people find items they frequently lose, such as keys, or allow caregivers to locate an older person with a memory disorder who may have left home unexpectedly.

Smart speakers aren’t the perfect solution in every situation. Older adults’ memory-loss conditions, like dementia, might worsen to the point that they are unable to speak to the device or manage their ADLs on their own. However, the use cases discussed here show how these devices’ existing capabilities are flexible enough to help older consumers delay the need for professional care. Companies developing senior tech should consider whether their use cases are already addressed by existing devices and develop apps or skills for those. More importantly, they should ensure that their products are thoughtfully designed to take into account the way older users approach technology.