Abstract:

Active and Healthy Ageing Monitoring System (AHAMS) is an integrated healthcare system designed to monitor daily vital parameters and physical activity in seniors. AHAMS has been developed in the context of AgeDesign, an Interreg Italy-Austria European project. It represents the outcome of extensive research that involved five institutions from Italy (Veneto region) and Austria (Salzburg). AHAMS is a four-device kit: hub and wristband for vital parameters daily monitoring (heartbeat, arterial oxygen saturation, cardiac frequency, and body hydration), a smart suit for motion tracking during targeted physical exercise sessions, and an age-friendly smartphone application for data recording, visualization, and alarm values reporting – it provides feedback in case of anomalies detection (arrhythmia, dehydration, wrong body position during exercise session). Laboratory tests have assessed both vital parameters and body postures detection. The team also evaluated the system’s usability through a User Experience Questionnaire (UEQ) and Mobile App Rating Scale (MARS).

The project’s strength lies in the integration of health monitoring systems in a unique set of devices. Today, most seniors use different medical devices for vital parameters detection, monitoring, rehabilitation, or treatment of several diseases. For each device, seniors must learn several characteristics and interaction modes. Differing in their morphological characteristics, performance, and information architecture, they could cause discomfort to the user, learning difficulties, and risk of errors. Therefore, AHAMS seeks to provide a comprehensive, simple, and age-friendly tool to promote healthy and active ageing. This has been made possible thanks to the international and multidisciplinary nature of the research team: expertise from the medical, electronics, product design, human motion analysis, and wearable technologies fields have been brought together to result in a multifunctional user-friendly product system that offers a comprehensive health monitoring.

Keywords:

Agedesign, healthy ageing, active ageing, gerontechnology, multidisciplinarity.