[pushfoo]

TL;DR: Did the lab get a chance to try integrating sensors into a nice looking, non-smart wristwatch form factor?

> What we found is that seniors had essentially no desire to wear any sensors

My understanding is that much of it comes down to:

1. Fashion / utility concerns ("It looks stupid!")

2. Perceived loss of independence ("I don't want a baby monitor!")

However, even a phone accelerometer in the pocket seems to get useful if imperfect gait data[1]. If it's on the wrist, then it's enough for Apple to use it for fall detection[2].

My understanding is that you might have something fairly effective if you:

1. Made a watch look like wrist watches which seniors are used to and enjoy (no annoying screen, etc)

2. Integrated Wi-Fi sensing data like I mentioned elsewhere in this thread[3]

3. Found and added any features the sensors perceive as useful (there might not be any, however)

I know the regulatory and privacy hurdles for using Wi-fi radar data in a health-related device are formidable. However, there's a clear use case for it: detecting stroke-related movement abnormalities.

The paper on phone gait tracking I mentioned earlier[1] seemed to show the opposite side of the body had signal quality issues. Yes, using Wi-Fi data probably requires an additional device to combine it with data from the watch. However, "BE FAST" is an acronym used in patient education on stroke care because response time is critical[4].

[1]: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8622042/

[2]: https://support.apple.com/en-us/108896

[3]: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40893636

[4]: https://www.beaumont.org/health-wellness/blogs/stroke-sympto...

[goochphd]

Wi-Fi or another radar-type device (like the one we developed) is the way to go. That got around people not wanting, or simply forgetting, to wear a device, but it did have its own technical challenges.

A sensor fusion approach is a great option, and wearables + some radar-based system seems like a best of all worlds solution, if people will use the wearables. Another big bonus you get from wearables is vitals detection, although I implemented a couple over-the-air vitals detection algorithms with our radar device that were sometimes very reliable.

[FerretFred]

You can add "I won't wear that - it makes me look old" - this from an 88-year-old who won't go the local club because "it's full of old people".