Gerontechnology: Timely
R&D Applications for Aging
People in a Rapidly
Changing Society
James L. Fozard, Ph.D.
College of Arts and Sciences - School
of Aging Studies
University of South Florida
Tampa, FL
We Live in a Era of Two Big-Time
Historical Trends
 Current and projected relative increases in
older end of society’s age distribution are
occurring for the first time in history
 Changes in the man-made technological
environment are progressing more rapidly
than ever before in history
2
USA Census 1975
3
Projected USA Census 2050
4
Older people’s goals—continued
functional independence
 Maintain health as long as possible
 Maintain functional independence in housing,
transportation, recreation, learning and work
 Maintain financial resources to live independently
 Maintain and enhance communication with family and
friends
 Create new social contacts to substitute for those lost
through death and separation from family
5
Rapid changes in the man-made
technological environment
 Historians of technology indicate that some 90% of
the advances in technology occurred during the 20th
century
 Some examples of widespread technology
applications since about 1990
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Internet and e-mail; search machines
Mobile phone; sms
Digital camera
Navigation tools (GSM)
Games
Robots
Smart products and systems (adaptive)
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Rapid changes in the man-made
technological environment
 One result is that an old person today has
experienced:


First time exposure to new technology at a
relatively advanced age, e.g.,
 navigation systems,
 robots,
 Internet
Changes in the user interfaces of established
technological products, e.g.,
 camera (film to digital),
 telephone (party line to wireless cell phone),
 washing machines and other devices
(electro-mechanical to menu-driven controls)
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Framework needed to analyze
person-environment interactions
 Starting in 1990 engineers and gerontologists at the
Technische Universiteit Eindhoven developed the
interdisciplinary discipline called gerontechnology.
Gerontechnology addresses the following issues:

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Analyze how best to link technology to needs of aged
and aging people
How to involve people in planning for development,
distribution and dispersion of technology
Systematically evaluate technology’s age-specific goals
for health, housing, transportation, communication and
work and leisure
Study how to utilize the motivating properties of
technology
Address policy issues related to technology
applications
8
Definition: Gerontechnology is
 An integrative discipline
 concerned with
 Development, dispersal and distribution of
technologically-based products, environments and
services

that improve the
 Functioning and quality of life of
 Aging and aged persons.
 Word is composite of gerontology, the study of
aging and technology the creation of technological
products, environments and services
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Overview of basic concepts of
gerontechnology
Gerontechnology theory connects human aging
to environmental change over time
5 Domains of gerontechnology

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Health and self esteem
Housing and everyday activities
Communication and governance
Transportation and mobility
Work and leisure
Ref: Fozard J. Impact of technology interventions on health
and self esteem. Gerontechnology. 2005,4,463-76
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Gerontechnology’s four types of
intervention (goals)
 Prevention and engagement—technology that delays or prevents
age-associated physiological and behavioral changes that restrict
human functioning, e.g., accidents lifestyle and environmental factors
contributing to allergies, depression and other modifiable conditions
 Compensation and assistance—technology that compensates for
age-associated losses in strength and perceptual-motor functioning—
the most frequent use
 Care support and organization—technology
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used by caregivers of elderly persons with disabilities, e.g., devices that
lift and move physically disabled persons,
machines that administer and monitor the use of medications and
equipment that provides information about physiological functioning to
remote location
 Enhancement and Satisfaction

Improve quality of life at all three levels
 The four interventions are applicable to all 5 domains—health, housing,
etc.

Ref: Bronswijk JEMH, Bouma H, Fozard JL. Technology for quality of life: An enriched
taxonomy. Gerontechnology, 2003;2,169-172.
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Gerontechnology Impact matrix
Slide courtesy of Prof. Dr. Herman Bouma 5/22/06
Life Domain
Health &
Selfesteem
Housing &
Daily
Living
Mobility &
Transport
Communication &
Governance
Work &
Leisure
Enhancement
& Satisfaction
Telemedicine
Internet
Wireless /
remote phone
GPS navigation
Mobile phone
Internet
Digital
camera
Internet
Prevention &
Engagement
Healthy diet
Home trainer
Smart
ventilation
“Intelligent” car
Video links
Focused
lighting
Compensation
& Assistance
Passive
alarms
Smart IADL
Rollator/walker
Battery powered
wheelchair
Hearing aids
Power tools
Robot pet
Care Support &
Organization
Smart intake
Control-PDA
Electronic keys
Powered lifting
Care networks
Video links
Robots
Goal of
Intervention
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How does human aging relate to
changes in the environment?
 Gerontechnology systematically links aging to
changes in the environment
 The dynamics of person/environment interactions
change over time.
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Continuous changes occur in the environment—called
secular changes
Overlapping generations of aging people—called age
cohorts-- who create and use environment are affected
differently by environmental change
A person aging from 10 to 20 years starting in 2007 will
never experience the changes in the environment
experienced by a 60 year old
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Person
Receptors
Internal
Structures
Effectors
System
Output
Measure
Interface
Social
Built
Natural
Environment
At any point in time, the Person-Environment Interaction may
be analyzed using the well-known human factors approach.
System output can be altered by changing the environment,
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the person, or both.
What happens when changes over
time are added to the model?
 Adding time to the model, e.g., 10 years, allows us to
consider three additional factors:
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changes within a person as (s)he ages
differences between successive age cohorts
 Variability among members within any cohort
increases because of individual differences in
experience of the environment
secular changes in the environment over time and how
they interact with aging
Gerontechnology studies how changes in the
environment affect age changes and differences
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Person
Receptors
Internal Effectors
Structures
Human
aging
System
Output
Measure
Interface
Secular
change
Social
Built
Natural
Time
Environment
LESSON: BOTH age-related
and secular changes affect
system output dynamics
Future
Past
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Summary: environmental
change and aging
 Secular changes in technology are creating dramatic changes in
user interfaces
 Wireless phones used for watching downloaded TV shows
as well as communication
 Adaptive robotic technology blurs distinctions between
person to person and person to machine communication and
interaction
 Experience with one user-technology interface can have
negative or positive effects on the ability or willingness of a
person to use a new one
 Within an age cohort, aging results in an increased
interdependence between person and various components
of the environment
 Adaptation process to secular change varies across age
cohorts partly because of variety and amount of earlier
experiences
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Putting the 4 gerontechnology
interventions to work
 The diagram just shown is just the first step in
planning gerontechnology interventions
 The next steps include identifying:
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Desired impact, e.g. prevention vs. compensation
Target of intervention
Site and placement of technology
Timing of intervention
Ref: Fozard, JL Impacts of technology interventions on health
and self-esteem. Gerontechnology, 2005, 4, 63-76.
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Planning Practical Application of
Gerontechnology Concepts
IMPACT?
IMPACT?
INTERVENE:
Prevention
Enhance
TYPE, SITE?
Prevent
Compensation
Person:
Compensate
Care/organization
Care/organization Train, motivate
Select
Enhance
Personality
Demographics
FUNCTION? Environment:
TARGET?
Physical
Physical
Mental
Cognitive
Emotional/social
Emotional/Social
Built, social, natural
Device on person
Device: located
near or remotely
Person
System
Output
Environment
Time
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How high speed networking can
expand scope of gerontechnology
 Prevention: Coaching in cardiovascular and strength training,
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available as never before; simulation of aging
Compensation: Smart homes/environments, robots
Care/support: High quality home based medical and rehab
services available
Enhancement: Promote virtual social and artistic activities;
Facilitate shopping, learning and work at home
Common feature of examples is enhanced communication
between
 people and people,
 people and machines
 among machines that themselves are networked
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Networking improves coaching
in strength training
 Prevention is appropriate health-related intervention
to improve functioning, gait quality, lower risk of falls
 Motivation is major issue for utilizing strength
training—machines can have motivational properties
 Networking can improve motivation and quality of
feedback from strength training
 Reinforcement from sharing information by peers doing
similar workouts
 Wearable transducers provide information on quality
and required number of maneuvers
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Virtual simulations of aging
and healthy lifestyles
 Since the 1970s, many simulations of age related
sensory and mobility limitations have been
devised to educate the young
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Clouded lenses, ear plugs, gloves, weighted shoes
etc.
Limitation is lack of linkage of these devices and
preventive and compensatory interventions
 Virtual reality simulations can improve education
by linking simulations of limitations to effects of
compensatory and preventive measures
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Technology for compensation
and care interventions
 Established technologies include
 Hearing and vision aids
 Text to speech converters
 Electronic memory aids
 Emerging technologies include
 Smart homes and environments
 Robots
 Telemedicine
 Location aware cueing
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High speed networking expands
range of gerontechnology
 Telemedicine and communication
applications using video over Internet
 Ultra-wideband radio allows for precise
location of persons within a home and
communication among appliances
 Allows for shopping and business without
being tied to desktop PC
 Faster interactions in games, virtual
simulations and machine guided rehabilitation
 New opportunities for personal service robots
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High speed networking and embedded
technologies improve enhancement
 Aging brings new opportunities for:
 Adventurous and challenging activities
 New social opportunities and friendships
 Artistic expression
 Learning
 Work
 Technical support for all these activities is
currently possible in home settings
 High speed networking increases the range
of possibilities for these activities
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Challenging activities, social
opportunities and friendships
 Development of virtual environments and
games for older persons is a wide open field
for development
 Aging brings losses in spouses, family,
friends

Chat rooms, and virtual communities such as
those sponsored through Seniornet exist now
but are not widely used
 High speed networking increases the range
of possibilities for these activities
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People in this group can envision many
advantages of high speed networking!
 Aging brings new opportunities for:
 Artistic expression
 Individual
 Visual: making, copying and altering digital images;
drawing, animation and cartoons etc. using existing
software
 Auditory: create, arrange, add music to visual
scenes using contemporary software
Bouma H, Harrington TL Information and communication. In TL Harrrington, MK
Harrington Gerontechnology: Why and How Maastricht NL: Shaker Publishing 2000
pp.156-159
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High speed networking
potential for learning, work
 Aging brings new opportunities for Learning,
Work
 There are many existing examples of how
technology makes it possible to learn “on line”
and work at home or in a remote setting.
Japanese program of “Kaizen” is recent
example
Ref: www.seniornet.org;www.gerontechnology.org
 Demographics described earlier highlight
importance of continued work and learning by
older persons
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High speed networking and
basic gerontological research
 A major goal of fundamental gerontological research
is to describe changes in physiological, biochemical
and behavioral systems over time as organism ages
 About 35-40 longitudinal studies of human aging are
being conducted worldwide. They are expensive and
difficult to carry out
 High speed networking can increase the
verisimilitude, scope and complexity of monitoring of
human functioning in natural environmental settings
thereby facilitating study of aging cross cultural and
specific environmental settings
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Summary and Conclusions
 Combination of aging and society and ever more
rapid evolution of technology brings new challenges
and opportunities for linking people to the man-made
environment
 Gerontechnology studies changing personenvironment interactions for human benefit
 4 classes of gerontechnology interventions are
applied to 5 areas of human activity
 High speed networking and embedded technologies
increase scope of gerontechnology
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