NKUT2014Communication.ppt

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Communication

October 30, November 6, 2014-(7-8)

Communication and age associated changes in sensory-perception

James L. Fozard, Ph.D

.

Visiting Professor, Nan Kai University of Technology

Professor, School of Aging Studies University of South Florida

Tampa, FL 33260

Let me introduce my research and scholarly Colleague., Dr. William Kearns.

He shares in creation of the material presented in the lectures on

communication.

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Individual movement and

transportation November 17, 24 2014

Communication and age associated changes in sensory-perception

James L. Fozard, Ph.D

.

Visiting Professor, Nan Kai University of Technology

Professor, School of Aging Studies University of South Florida

Tampa, FL 33260

Let me introduce my research and scholarly Colleague., Dr. William Kearns.

He shares in creation of the material presented in the lectures on

communication.

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Gerontechnology Impact matrix

Slide courtesy of Prof. Dr. Herman Bourma 5/22/06

Life Domain Health & Self-esteem Housing & Daily Living Mobility & Transport Communica-tion & Governance Work & Leisure Goal 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

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Topics for lectures on

communication

Communication in the information age

• Technology to aid spoken communication

between people—hearing aids

• Technology to aid communication between

people and machines—computers, ATM

• Complex systems—people networked with

many devices that are also networked

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Topics of lecture

• Technology to aid auditory communication

with other people and devices

• Technology to aid visual communication

with environment, other people and visual

devices

• Technology to aid proprioception

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Reading

•

Kearns WD, Fozard JL. High-speed

networking and embedded

gerontechnologies.

Gerontechnology

2007; 6(3):135-146.(go to

www.gerontechnology.net and follow

links to archived articles)

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References used for this lecture

Fozard JL, Kearns WD. Technology, Aging, and Communication. In Lesnoff-Caravaglia G Ed, Gerontechnology: Growing old in a

technological society, pp.271-291. Springfield, IL: Charles C. Thomas, 2007.

Dulude, L. (2002). Automated telephone answering systems and aging.

Behavior & Information Technology, 21(3),171–184.

Kearns WD, Fozard JL. High-speed networking and embedded gerontechnologies. Gerontechnology 2007; 6(3):135-146.(go to www.gerontechnology.net and follow links to archived articles)

Roy N, Pineau J. Robotics and independence for the elderly. In Lesnoff-Caravaglia G Ed, Gerontechnology: Growing old in a technological society, pp.209-242. Springfield, IL: Charles C. Thomas, 2007.

Kemper S, Lacal JC. Addressing the communication needs of an aging

society. In Pew RW, van Hemel SB, Eds Technology for adaptive aging

pp. 131-149. Washington, DC: National Academies Press, 2003

Almudevar A, Leibovici A, Tentler A. Home monitoring using wearable radio frequency transmitters. Artificial intelligence in medicine, 2008, 42,109-120

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Modern communication technology

relates to all of gerontechnology’s goals

• Prevention: Coaching in cardiovascular and strength training, available as never before

• Compensation: Smart homes/environments, robots • Care/support: High quality home based medical and

rehab services available via telemedicine and robotics • Enhancement: Promote virtual social and artistic

activities from home; Facilitate shopping, learning and work at home

• We have discussed many applications in previous

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Hearing: Prevention—control of

atherosclerosis

•

Presbycusis

--

elevated blood pressure

• Longitudinal data from men with initially

normal hearing established relationship

between hearing loss (>25db for .5,1,2,4

kHz) for three levels of systolic blood

pressure (120, 140, 160 mmHg)

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Hearing: Prevention rests on early

interventions

•

Presbycusis:

Age-related hearing loss.

Recent research indicates that aging alone

cannot explain presbycusis—etiology is

more complex—involving long term

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Hearing: Prevention in relation to

noise exposure

• Presbycusis: Next to age, noise exposure is

best known risk factor; but how much and how long exposure must be is still poorly understood • Existing data have two limitations:

– noise exposure usually measured at source rather than at ear

– Most data come from occupational groups with

various ages and varied histories of exposure, e.g., soldiers, workers in noisy factories and persons

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Hearing: Prevention—early

approaches

• Presbycusis and noise exposure guidelines:

• Starting with Corso (Arch Environ Health,

1963;6:350-3) age-specific hearing data for

screened listeners are subtracted from total HL loss to estimate HL attributable to noise

exposure.

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Hearing: Prevention—data from

longitudinal studies

•

Presbycusis:

Longitudinal data from

carefully screened men and women used

to predict age related HL changes over

8-14 years in persons with different initial HL

levels. Predictions available for cohorts

with initial ages from 20s through 80s.

• Morrell CH, Gordon-Salant S, Pearson JD, Brant LJ, Fozard JL

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HL Changes in 424 men with

Initial Ages from 30s to 70s

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Hearing: Prevention—instructor

proposed intervention

• Clinical trial in natural setting could use noise suppression feature of contemporary hearing

aids to limit noise exposure and to monitor noise levels at ear.

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Hearing: Prevention—lifestyle

factors

•

Presbycusis--

tobacco and alcohol use

• Positive relationship between tobacco use

and hearing loss found in population study

• Cruickshanks KJ, Wiley TL Tweed TS et al Prevalence of hearing loss in older adults in Bearver Dam WI Am J Epid 1998;148:879-886.

• Less loss with moderate alcohol use

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% with normal hearing:

a:SBP 120 b:SBP 140 c:SBP 160

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Hearing: Prevention—control

atherosclerosis

• Brant et al findings come from observational study, need clinical trial

• Other measures of circulation would probably be better for study, e.g., computed

tomography imaging of arteries to detect

coronary calcification, doppler techniques for assessing loss of flexibility of the arteries or possible imaging of cerebral or aural blood flow.

• Clay RA Research to the heart of the matter Monitor on Psychol 2001;32:42

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Vision: Prevention

•

Vision and bright light

: limited data

relates greater risk for cateracts in

occupational groups such as professional

fisherman

•

Vision in relation to tobacco and

alcohol use

: data are inconclusive or

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Vision: Prevention

• Vision and blood pressure

• Hypertension is a risk factor for stroke and Type 2 Diabetes; both include serious visual problems • Diabetic retinopathy and neuropathies are a

common feature of diabetes

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Vision: Prevention

• Hypertension, Age and Visual Selective

Attention

• 51 Unmedicated persons with

hypertension (BP>90/140) and

normotensive age peers

• Task was to decide which of two target

letters was in array of 8 letters. Cueing

helped all persons.

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Mean Decision Times by Age

for Normal/Hypertensives

0 200 400 600 800 1000 1200

18-40 41-59 60-78

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Vision: Prevention

•

Conclusions: inconclusive data

• Best evidence is that control of elevated

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Proprioception, Balance and

Movement: Prevention

• Strength training and physical activity

improve muscle mass, control of

movement, and balance

• Ivey FM, Tracy BL, Lemmer JT, NessAiver M, SM, Metter EJ, Fozard JL, Hurley BH. The effects of strength training and detraining on muscle quality : Age and gender comparisons J Gerontol:Biol Sci

2000;55A:B152-B157.

• Miller ME, Rejeski WJ, Reboussin BA, Ten Have TR, Ettinger WH

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FL Gerontological Research & Training Services

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Muscle Quality(MQ) is strength/volume. Strength training of right leg occurred over 9 months; detraining over 31 weeks. From Ivey et al 2000

Young Men Young Women Older Men OlderWomen

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Proprioception, Balance and

• Midlife strength predicts functioning 25 years

later

• Grip strength measured at age 45 to 68 in

Japanese-American men. 25 years later speed of walking, ability to stand up from chair, and self-reports of difficulty lifting 10 lbs, doing

housework, etc were measured.

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Proprioception, Balance and

• Grip strength divided into thirds: <37,

37-42, >42kg; outcome measures included

– Walking speed<0.4m/s (6.2%)

– Chair rise without using arms (2.2%) – Difficulty doing housework (18.2%)

– Difficulty walking up 10 steps (14.1%)

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% with Limitations in Strength

Groups Measured 25 Yrs Ago

0 5 10 15 20 25 30

%

House wk 10 steps slow walk chair rise Difficulty with Function

low 3rd mid 3rd high 3rd

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• Leg exension strength and leg power correlate with gait speed. The distributions of leg power associated with different speeds may provide the basis for setting goals for strength needed for

walking.

• Rantanen T, Avela J Leg extension power and walking speed in very old people living independently. J Gerontol Med Sci 1997;52A:M225-M331.

• Correlations between power and speed ranged from .4 to.7 in old people

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Cumulative distributions of leg power for 5 groups of walking speed from <1m/s to>2m/s

Data from Rantanen andAvela 1997

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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

• Networking can improve motivation and

quality of feedback from strength training

– _{Reinforcement from sharing information by}

peers doing similar workouts

– _{Wearable transducers provide information}

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Prevention: Strength and Gait

• There is considerable work relating

contemporary strength to gait speed and balance, e.g., Rantanen and Avela

• Prevention requires that we set standards for reserve strength needed for adequate

functioning at a later age

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Compensation: Principal

Interventions

• Increase signal strength directly or by increasing signal/background contrast

• Slow rate of presentation of information

• Provide redundant information, e.g. visual+ auditory presentation of messages

• Increase signal distinctiveness by using other sensory channels, e.g., vibration

• Use smart technology to find right signal

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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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• Improve Auditory Image Quality

– Amplification and noise suppression in digital hearing aids

– direct signal transmission via FM

• Aural rehabilitation

• Reduce temporal distortion from

reverberation and time compression of

signals

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• Reverberation

– Clearly age-related—interventions available

• Schieber F, Fozard JL, Gordon-Salant S, Weiffenbach J Optimizing the sensory-perceptual environment of older adults Int J Indust Ergon

1991;7:133-162

• Speech too fast, e.g, speech compressed

– Clearly age-related—one intervention is processor to slow broadcast speech without frequency distortion

Mutsuhashi T Human-friendly broadcasting technology NHK R&D 1998;50:53-59

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Hearing: Compensation 3

• Reverberation and time compression often

occur together in public places

• Useful to have guidelines to set goals for

both factors

• Gordon-Salant and Fitzgibbons describe

effort to create equal audibility index

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Equivalent S/N Ratio: Age and

Hearing Impairement Effects

• Gordon-Salant, S., Fitzgibbons, P.J. J

Speech Hearing Research 1995,38, 706-13. • % correct word recognition in SPIN test

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Equivalent S/N Ratio: Age and

Hearing Impairement Effects

Equivalent S/N Ratio Defined:

% Correct Data of Young-N Group in Noise at different S/N ratios used in Equation relating S/N to % Correct.

Predicted S/N ratios used to compare effects of Age and Hearing Impairment under 4 levels of speech compression and 4 levels of

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Equivalent S/N Ratios for 0-60%

Time Compression(N-HI)

0 5 10 15 20 25

0 30 40 50 60

Time Compression (%) S/N

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Clusters of Equivalent S/N

Ratios for N and HI Listeners

COMPRESSION (T30-T-60 ) AND REVERB (R.2-R.6) WITH EQUIVALENT S/N RATIOS

N 0 T3 T4 R.2 T5 R.3 R.4 T6 R.6

S/N 19 19 19 19 13 13 13 8 8

HI 0 R.2 T3 R.3 T4 T5 R.4 R.6 T6

S/N 15 12 12 8 8 8 8 3 3

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Compensating for functional limitations

using communication devices

• telephones (279-281)

– Miniaturization and complexity of display – Miniaturization and complexity of keypad

• Difficulty in texting; one button multiple uses=bad design

• Interactive voice response system

– studies show that providing a graphical aid more effective than visual display; slowing speech did not help older persons

– Next slide discusses evaluation of 6 interactive phone systems

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Evaluating the effectiveness of

automatic call answering systems

Dulude, L. (2002). Automated telephone answering systems and aging. Behavior & Information Technology, 21(3),171–184

Six simulations of existing telephone systems were evaluated for accuracy and perceived ease of use by young and old adults

In all but one of the systems, older persons experienced more difficulty and made more errors than young adults in using the systems. • The Income Security system easy for both young and old users—

it was the only one where there were no age differences

• The major age differences were in recovering from error and caller confusion about the task

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Compensation: Vision

• Improve visual image quality

– Increase illumination, contrast, letter size improve target quality, reduce glare, and requirements for light/dark adaptation

• Decrease requirements for fast adaptation

and speed in complex visual tasks.

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Compensation: Vision 2

• The loss of sensitivity with age extends

across visible spectrum:

– Discrimination between white light and

mixture of white light and monochromatic light (420-680 nm) showed that older adults were less able to discriminate color at 2 levels of illumination after controlling for pupil size, retinal luminance etc.

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Color Discrimination for 2 Age

and Luminance Levels

0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 Log(1/Pc)

420 500 570 640 420 500 570 640 Wavelength (nm)

30-10 74-10 30-250 74-250

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Compensation: Visual acuity in

clinical testing conditions

• Longitudinal data on monocular acuity (better eye) obtained with standard apparatus confirms earlier published data showing that presenting acuity changes little until the 70s for both men and women

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20 30 40 50 60 70 80 Age

Squares=men;Circles=women Data from BLSA, unpublished

Estimated US % w/Acuity<0,5: 4 4 9 16

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Compensation: Visual Acuity

• In everyday situations, poor illumination,

contrast and target characteristics greatly

reduce acuity and contrast sensitivity of

older persons.

• Examples from Japan and the Netherlands

follow. Both illustrate lighting and contrast

needed to reduce/eliminate age

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Visual acuity

measured by letter or Landolt Ring

increases as much as 80% with luminance and brings oldest group almost to level of youngest at lower luminance levels.

Data from Research Institute of Human Engineering for Quality Life, Osaka Japan, 1999.

Illumination levels (horizontal axis) and acuity for

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Illumination and Contrast

Effects on Readability of Type

• Steenbekkers LPA (1998) Visual contrast sensitivity. In LPA Steenbekkers CEM van Beijsterveldt (Eds) Design-relevant characteristics of ageing users. Delft, NL: Delft University of Technology Press, pp.131-136.

• Size of lower case Times Roman type needed to read standard passages by Dutch adults in four age groups was measured. Three levels of

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Font size needed to read

Times-Roman type

ILL-UM

10 LUX

100 LUX

1000 LUX

AGE 25 75 25 75 25 75

%

CONT

10 10.0 12.6 4.0 8.0 3.2 6.3

33 5.0 10.0 4.0 8.0 3.2 6.3

100 b 4.0 8.0 3.2 6.3 3.2 5.0

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Font size for screen displays

Font size (in points)

Screen Width (inches)

18 28 36 44

36 19 31 38 46

60 32 51 64 76

84 44 71 89 107

120 64 102 127 153

Assumptions—20/40 acuity; 4:3 aspect ratio; slide fills screen

Data from Table 47.3 of Weinschenk, SM, 100 thinga every presenter needs to know about people. Berkley, CA: New Riders, 2013, p.105

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Source: Weale, R.A., et al, Gerontechnology

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Source: Weale, R.A., et al, Gerontechnology

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Need Multiple Approaches to

Improving Image Quality

• Applied research on equivalent visibility

functions across age--using combinations of

illumination, contrast, and targets

• _{Consumer education:}_{Mockups of kitchen,}

home office etc. that allow older people to see how to improve personal lighting etc. Mockups could be in lighting stores, Optician stores,

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Need Multiple Approaches to

Improving Image Quality

• Consumer services: Small portable lighting

aids in restaurants for menus and bills; better design of price tags, directions and prices of merchandise.

• Improved use of electronic reading

devices flexible print size and contrast

• Device to automatically change focal

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Vision: Compensation in

Complex Tasks

• When improving visual information helps performance in complex task depends on specifics of task requirements for

– attention and search

– visual guidance of control movements – maintenance of balance and gait.

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Vision: Compensation in

Complex Tasks

• Visually controlled movements

• Elderly adults require relatively more time to

complete a repetitive movement task as difficulty increases. For small and long

movements, smaller targets mean longer times.

• Welford AT, Norris AH, Shock NW Speed and accuracy of movement and their changes with age Acta Psychol 1969;30:3-15.

Brogmus GE (1997) Effects of age and sex on speed and accuracy of hand movements and the refinements they suggest for Fitts’Law. In WA Rogers (Ed) Designing for an aging population. Santa Monica CA: Human Factors and

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Data from Brogmus, 1991. Women

performed better than men. 15 year

longitudinal followup of men showed an initial practice effect followed by poorer performance because of greater

variability in location of spots in the target

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Visually Controlled Movements

• The slowing of making single and repetitive movements occurs mostly in the last segment of the movement. Practice does not help

reduce age difference in speed.

• Target magnification, control damping, improved contrast provide best ways of

improving performance in tasks like moving the computer screen cursor with a mouse control.

• Seidler-Dobrin RD, Stelmach GE. (1996) Practice and visual feedback in the elderly. In G Huber (Ed) Healthy aging, activity and sports. Heidelberg

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Vision: Compensation Driving

• Self reports by current and former drivers

identify same visual problems found in

laboratory studies; in one study complaints

correlate with age declines in carefully

measured contrast sensitivity.

• Kline DW, Kline TJB, Fozard JL, Kosnick W, Schieber F, Sekuler R Aging and driving: the problems of older drivers. J Gerontol 1992;47:27-34

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Ratings 1-3: none to moderate difficulty. Age trends in all 7 complaints predicted by contrast sensitivity data

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Vision: Compensation: Driving

• As in static visual environments, illumination levels and glare profoundly affect visibility for signs and objects while driving

• Compensations include better sign lighting and increased size of sign symbols

• Schieber F, Kline DW Age differences in the legibility of symbol highway signs as a function of luminance and glare level. Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society 38th_{Annual Meeting 1994 133-135}

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Vision: Compensation: Driving

• Steering task study and illumination

• Old adults are involved in relatively fewer night time automobile accidents than younger drivers. • Older adults make more steering errors in

driving simulator under poor illumination than young adults

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Compensating for functional limitations

using communication devices

• computer displays and controls (pp. 275-278)

– Visual problems create major problems for older users

• Glare, poor lighting and contrast+ATMs, cell phones, PDAs create poor interface

• Different viewing distance for keyboard and screen is problem for presbyoptic user

• Low vision aids often do more than needed for older person’s needs

• Auditory displays can substitute for visual ones providing feedback and alerting

• Many controls available beside mouse and keyboard but ergonomics not well studied

• information seeking and web navigation-- a few ways to improve the ease of web navigation for older persons.

• hierarchical structure of information best in Chinese study

• NIH guidelines (USA) cover: clarity of writing; organization and repetition; illustrations, video and alternatives to these

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Demographics of technology use

across generations

• Use of Internet

– 22% 65+; 77% 18-44. Access accounts for part of difference – Use similar across age groups—e-mail over 50%

– Incentives come from government, business; lonliness not a big factor; people use Internet for familiar tasks, not new ones

– Material relevant to seniors important determinant

– Trustworthiness of sources, especially health, is important to older user

• True or false? Training older persons to use the Internet and increasing access will be sufficient to increase use. False. Content and utility more important

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30

20

10

Luminance (log cd/m2)

Data from Owens and Tyrrell (1999)

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Compensation: Falls and Gait

• Poor illumination, confusing information

resulting from bad stair design implicated in many studies of falls and accidents.

• Architect John Templar documents these in a multivolume book.

• Population based studies show consistent relation between visual acuity and contrast

sensitivity and measures of gait and history of falls and hip fractures.

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Enhancement: Technology and

New Opportunities

• Aging brings new opportunities for:

– New social opportunities and friendships

• Retirement, relocation, empty nest, widowhood —all create new opportunities

• Communication technology—internet, e-mail, virtual neighborhoods—all are making a

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Enhancement: Technology and

New Opportunities

– Adventurous and challenging activities

• Perhaps we, but surely our children and

grandchildren enjoy video games

• There is a great potential for adult

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Enhancement: Technology and

New Opportunities

– Adventurous and challenging activities

• In addition to computer- and video-based games, virtual reality offers the potential of stimulating artistic adventures.

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Enhancement: Technology and

New Opportunities

– Artistic expression

• The artistic expression can be individual or shared

– Individual—design and color electronically, create music electronically, take and ‘develop’ electronic photographs and movies

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Enhancement: Technology and

New Opportunities

• Group--Virtual jam sessions, group painting

• Bouma and Harrington (2000) describe a virtual group painting activity in which all artists can see and share in the others’ painting. Possible with existing technology.

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Enhancement: Technology and

New Opportunities

• 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

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Hearing--care

• Cochlear implants

• Cell therapies for repairing damaged hair

cells

– Neural stem cells—from hippocampus, functional recovery not observed in rats – Embryonic stem cells—differentiate to

epithelial but not hair cells

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Vision-care

• There are a number of low vision aids

available for persons who are legally blind

(20/200)—bright lights, glare control, large

type, etc.

• Because most seniors do not meet the

definition legally blind, these products are

not generally available in general

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Are the technologies for helping older

people communicate really helping?

• Your lecturer just gave many examples of

technology believed to help people do

visual and auditory tasks involved in

communication with machines

• The paper by Kemper and colleague

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Kemper and Lacal: addressing the real communication needs of an aging society

Kemper S, Lacal JC. Addressing the communication needs of an aging society. In Pew RW, van Hemel SB, Eds

Technology for adaptive aging pp. 131-149. Washington, DC: National Academies Press, 2003

• This chapter provides a critical review of technologies currently available to compensate for the age associated declines in hearing, vision and memory.

– They point out that current technology aids still have to be supplemented by training of the user and limitations on the complexity of the signals received by the device,

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Addressing

communication needs of an aging soci

ety

Kemper S, Lacal JC. Addressing the communication needs of an aging society. In Pew RW, van Hemel SB, Eds Technology for adaptive aging pp. 131-149. Washington, DC: National Academies Press, 2003

Overaccommodations to aging—using baby talk to older persons

The prevalence of word retrieval problems--“I know his/her name but I can’t remember it.” “I love that flower, it is called…..???”

• One technological intervention proposed is to provide prompts for the

forgotten word that includes a prompt for the first syllable of the word (phonological prompt).

• Would a phonological prompt be helpful in Chinese where inflection

distinguishes meanings of sounds that are otherwise similar?

• Listener controlled slowing of speech signal in Japanese TV news

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Advances in communication technology create new opportunities for gerontechnology

• High speed internet and embedded

technologies create new opportunities for

using technology for the benefit of older

persons

• Article by Kearns and Fozard (2007)

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High speed networking expands

scope 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

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High-speed networking and embedded

technologies

Kearns WD, Fozard JL. High-speed networking and embedded gerontechnologies. Gerontechnology 2007; 6(3):135-146

First major topic covered in the review—Internet and communication among machines:

• Evolution of the Internet (pp 135-137)

• Internet2—makes possible advanced applications such as – multipoint videoconferencing

– Telepresence

– virtual reality--creates a sophisticated way for young people to experience being elderly (pp 137-138)

• Intelligent appliances such as smart refrigerators, indoor climate controls to increase efficiency of energy use (pp138-139). Machine to machine communication via wireless

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High-speed networking and embedded

technologies

Second major topic covered in the review—new and advanced gerontechnologies

• Monitoring and interventions—monitoring of movements in and out of home, consumption of food, quality of indoor air, changes in behavior through wearable sensors, etc. (pp. 139-140)

• Improved interventions, e.g., electronic hearing aid with Bluetooth connectivity to changing software programs for the aid, etc., comfort and support in unfamiliar environments (pp.140-141)

• Consumer activity—comparison shopping, networked advice in shopping (p.141)

• Coaching, guidance, and motivation—virtual sports competitions, games, directions and information to tourists or persons with

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High-speed networking and embedded

technologies

Third major topic covered in the review—Ethics and security:

• Security is major problem because “malware” can affect

wirelessly connected devices just as in conventional PCs (142-143)

Fourth major topic is accessibility and usability—now limited

• Major potential uses of wideband in gerontechnology (pp. 143-144)

Fifth major topic covered is R and D applications:

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Security of Networks

• Wired (GigE – Gigabit Ethernet) • Optical (Wave Based)

• Wireless (3G, CDMA, WiFi 802.11, WiMax, Mesh [ZigBee], Bluetooth, and WPAN)

• Wiloptic networks (hybrid wireless/optical)

• All have security issues that need to be addressed to maintain security of client data under Health Information Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) provisions.

– Usually addressed by a mixture of IPsec, VPN and other encryption algorithms

– Security is a big problem for wireless networks

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Networked

technology--Conclusions

• Networked technology facilitates people

getting information about themselves, their

environment and consumables

• Coaching, home based medical and rehab

services available as never before

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Ethics and Compensatory

hearing and vision aids

• Usual market forces in development and

distribution of technology is necessary but not sufficient in gerontechnology.

• Problems in use of technical products and

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Hearing Aids: People often do

not trust providers or vendors

• “Free evaluations” by vendors often link need to product(s) being sold by vendor

• Professional Physician/Audiologist evaluations are also often linked to sales of specific products —evaluation cost usually covered by medical

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: Example: Poor Distribution of

Hearing Aids in US

• Poor hearing is 4th most frequent complaint of

older persons in USA surveys

• Only about 20% of hearing impaired persons use hearing aids consistently

• Aggressive, misleading advertisements often confuse consumers

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Hearing Aids: People often do

not trust providers or vendors

• Best advice in my popular articles and talks:

Find audiologist and physician who do not have conflict of interest—In USA often available at

teaching hospitals and clinics

• Obtain information from NIH websites or read excellent review in Consumer Reports, a

(93)

93

Ethics and vision aids

• Low vision aids for severely impaired are well tested and regulated

• Consumer lighting seldom takes lighting needs of elderly into account

• One of the best approaches is to involve the user in the evaluation of lighting products

• Use displays that allow older persons to

(94)

94

Ethics and development and

distribution of technology

• Cannot depend on market forces at

present—elderly considered niche market

• Consumer–end user—must be

meaningfully involved in all phases of

product or environment development and

distribution to increase usefulness and use

of products and to insure ethical

(95)

95

Ethics and consumer

communication technology

• Prevention:

– Not available—needs research and development

– _{monitoring long-term progressive and}

homeostatic changes in sensory, motor and other

physiological systems and signalling threshold values – controlling variations in environmental factors such as

(96)

96

Ethics and consumer

Compensation:

– Available products

• adaptable lighting, hearing amplification, indoor climate control, provision of redundant (e.g., same message written and spoken)

– Not generally available

• unique provision of sensory information through other channels, e.g., vibration, speech speed

(97)

97

Ethics and consumer

– Enhancement:

• Not generally available

(98)