Aging in place: Making it safer with smart home technologies

 Aging in place, where elderly people choose to age in their homes rather than in a senior care facility, has become a growing phenomenon. For those aging in place, their health and safety become a primary concern for families and caretakers. Luckily, smart home solutions, which are increasingly AI-based, can play a key role in addressing those concerns.
 

Aging in place a growing trend

 
Across the globe, societies are aging. Today, many elderly people would rather age in the comfort of their homes instead of in a care or assistive living facility. There are several reasons for this. Homes are familiar settings that elderly people have grown used to. Then, there are economic reasons as well.
 
“Aging in place is becoming a growing trend. One of the main drivers is the rising cost of nursing home care. This is especially true in countries where governments fund elderly care through social welfare programs. Supporting seniors to live safely and independently at home helps reduce care costs while meeting their preference to remain in familiar surroundings,” said Monica Lin, Marketing Manager at Climax.
 
A lack of capacity for elderly care is another key reason.
 
“The world's population is aging faster than our ability to simply build more institutional care facilities. OECD data shows that across 34 OECD countries, there were approximately 41 long-term-care beds for every 1,000 people aged 65 and above in 2023. Over the preceding decade, the number of long-term-care beds relative to the elderly population declined. In some countries, beds were being added, but the elderly population was growing even faster,” said Ivan Mun, Founder of Ello.
 

How smart home supports aging in place

 
Inevitably, for those choosing to age in place, their safety and physical well-being can become a cause for concern. Falls may go undetected. Prolonged inactivity or non-movement may go unnoticed until it’s too late. Luckly, today’s smart home solutions can address many of those challenges.
 
“Smart home systems help elderly people age in place by placing sensors around the home to monitor daily routines, such as sleeping, eating, bathroom use, and going out. When the system detects something unusual, like a fall, no movement, or leaving home at night, it automatically alerts family or caregivers so help arrives quickly. This keeps seniors safe and independent at home while protecting their privacy,” Lin said.
 
Overall, smart home solutions for aging in place include, and are not exclusive of, the following:
 
Personal emergency response systems (PERS): An alert may be sent by the push of a button upon emergencies. However, the user must be conscious to activate the device;
 
Motion and presence sensors: These can identify activity or unusual inactivity without capturing images;
 
Radar and other contactless sensing technologies: These can detect falls and monitor user movements and are especially useful in privacy-sensitive settings;
 
Video cameras: They can be used as an effective monitoring and verification solution.
 
What’s important is to use these technologies in combination. “Ultimately, I believe the future will be multi-modal. Different sensors will be appropriate for different rooms, individuals and levels of care. Rather than asking which technology will win, the better question may be how do we bring these different technologies together to provide a more complete picture of the person we're caring for,” Mun said.
 

AI-based video solutions

 
As mentioned, video surveillance can be useful for monitoring and verification. In fact, video cameras are quite common in aging-in-place households. However, conventional cameras suffer from certain shortages and limitations.
 
“There are two problems we are specifically trying to solve. The first is that nobody watches CCTV all day. Many of the families we meet already have conventional cameras installed. But often, footage is only reviewed after they discover that something has happened. The second is notification fatigue. If a system sends dozens of motion notifications every day, eventually the caregiver stops paying attention,” Mun said.
 
This is where AI-based video solutions can play a key role.
 
“AI vision-based systems … can interpret what is happening within the home. The advantage of vision isn't simply detection. It is context. Knowing that an unusual movement occurred is useful. Knowing that a person actually fell and remains on the floor gives the caregiver considerably more information with which to make a decision,” Mun said.
 
He adds: “Our approach is therefore to combine AI detection with visual context. If an alert indicates that Mum may have fallen, being able to immediately see a short clip of what happened can help the caregiver determine whether to call her, contact someone nearby or escalate the situation.”
 
Mun cites their AI-based video solutions as an example.
 
“At ELLO, our focus is not really the camera itself. Our Vision One camera is the enabler. The intelligence sits within Care AI, which is designed to understand what is happening in the home and bring important events to the caregiver's attention. Care AI can identify critical situations including falls, fainting, distress, wandering or unexpected exits, prolonged inactivity, and household risks such as smoke and fire. When a critical event is detected, our objective is to notify the caregiver within approximately 60 seconds, together with a short video clip and contextual information,” he said.
 

Installation tips

 
To make sure smart home solutions work well in aging-in-place scenarios, effective installation is key. Before installation, an assessment of the environment should be thoroughly conducted.
 
“Before installing anything, understand the elderly person's lifestyle, mobility and risks. Where do they spend most of their day? Where are the higher-risk areas? Do they have mobility difficulties? Is wandering a concern? Which areas of the home require greater privacy?” Mun said. “For vision-based systems, common areas such as living rooms, dining areas, kitchens, entrances and staircases generally provide the most useful coverage. Bedrooms require greater consideration around privacy and consent. Bathrooms are areas where we would generally recommend privacy-preserving sensing technologies rather than conventional cameras.”
 
He adds that connectivity is another factor that is frequently underestimated. “Many smart-care solutions depend on cloud connectivity. Reliable Wi-Fi and Internet coverage therefore become part of the care infrastructure. A sophisticated AI system isn't particularly useful if it keeps losing connectivity,” he said.
 
Finally, for the installation itself, it would be better if it was handled by professional installers.
 
“Sensor placement is critical for accurate behavior monitoring: motion sensors must cover the key rooms and pathways, bed and bathroom sensors must be positioned correctly, and the system needs proper setup and testing so it learns the user's routine without false alarms. A professional installer or integrator can also connect the system to a monitoring center and make sure it is reliable from day one,” Lin said.
 
Mun notes that the industry should move towards DIY-capable, professionally supported solutions.
 
“For most families, installation should be simple enough that they don't require a technician. Making these technologies easy to install is important because aging-in-place technology ultimately needs to become accessible at consumer scale rather than remain a specialist healthcare product,” he said. “Professional installation makes more sense for larger homes, complex networking environments, multi-sensor deployments or institutional projects where placement, connectivity and ongoing support need to be managed systematically.”