PORTLAND, Ore.—The infamous 1980s television commercial that featured the tag line "I've fallen and I can't get up" became the butt of a thousand jokes. But for the elderly, susceptibility to falls and resulting injuries is no laughing matter.
Now, a development effort at Texas Tech University, sponsored by Texas Instruments Inc., is taking aim at preventing falls by analyzing posture and gait to send warning alerts to the elderly before they fall. The project has already enlisted volunteers at Texas Tech's Health Science Center to perfect the wireless wearable sensor and is on track next for clinical trials at the first U.S. on-campus geriatric teaching facility, Texas Tech's Geriatric Education and Care Center.
"We have tried all sorts of sensor placements, from leg-mounted inertial sensors to slippers with pressure sensors in their soles, but Texas Instruments' low-power microcontrollers and wireless radio combined with a torso-mounted MEMS accelerometer and gyro—like an external pacemaker—gives the best results," said lead scientist on the project, Texas Tech EE professor Donald Lie.
After a three-year development effort, Lie's team has crafted not only the torso-mounted wireless sensor but also the software analytics running on a PC that wirelessly monitors patients, resulting in algorithms that can reliably detect falls regardless of in which direction, which Lie claims is difficult to differentiate from the many ways that people plop down into their beds, cars seats and the various pieces of furniture around the home.
Prototype of wireless sensor module for detecting falls in geriatric patients is small enough to clip on a belt.Photo courtesy of Texas Tech