Worldwide, around a billion people have a disability, says the World Health Organisation.
In Europe and America, this is one in five people. And since they are less likely to be in work, their poverty rate is about twice as high.
Muse is a headband with four sensors that pick up the electrical outputs generated by the wearer’s brain activity. Muse connects to smart phones and tablets using bluetooth, and can provide wearers with real time feedback on their current mental state, i.e. whether they are calm or stressed, focused or distracted. Muse has the potential to become a human-computer interface that can allow the wearer to control computer applications and games. InteraXon, the makers of Muse, also imagine a future in which real world appliances will be able to directly respond to a user’s thoughts via Muse, for instance the television could turn off once it senses that the user has fallen asleep. There are certainly Universal Design applications for this kind of technology, assuming that people won’t mind wearing a headband across their foreheads all day. Then again, the design is pretty simple, sleek and unobtrusive. Would you use Muse? What would you want to control with your mind?
Some residents at the TigerPlace Aging-in-Place residences in Columbia, Missouri are taking part in a scientific experiment being conducted by researchers at the University of Missouri, who are using video game technology to monitor the residents’ health.
The living quarters of sixty-five residents have been outfitted with motion detection sensors over each doorway, high-tech sensors embedded in their mattress and a Microsoft Kinect box mounted on the ceiling to detect falls. The data collected by this equipment is analyzed to determine changes in the residents’ health and behavior patterns. For instance, if the motion detectors detect that a resident uses the bathroom an excessive number of times each night, then a nurse is called to evaluate the resident for a urinary tract problem. If restless sleep is observed, then the resident can be evaluated for anxiety or depression. If wandering off at night is observed, then the resident can be checked for early signs of alzheimer’s. The Kinect’s motion capture technology can also show researchers changes in a resident’s gait, which can help them predict and prevent trips and falls. The technology could one day be used to provide support to older adults who are aging in place.