Pension "black technology" paints more beautiful "sunset red"

Yesterday was the annual Chung Yeung Festival.

According to the "Report on the Development of China's Aging Industry (2021-2022)", by the end of 2022, the number of elderly people aged 60 and above in mainland China reached 280 million, of which about 44 million were disabled and semi-disabled elderly. With the deepening of the aging of the mainland, the society's demand for medical care and long-term care for the elderly, especially the disabled and semi-disabled elderly, is very urgent.

Intelligent hearing aids, assistive lift machines, fall detection systems... A large number of elderly care products that cut into the "pain points" of elderly care services and use a new generation of information technology such as the Internet of Things, big data, cloud computing and artificial intelligence can also embrace smart life and have a more beautiful "sunset red".

Smart Hearing Aids:

Let the elderly hear and hear clearly

"Can't hear clearly, you louder." This is the mantra of many older people.

It is estimated that the size of the elderly hearing-impaired group in mainland China has reached 120 million. Deafness has become a common chronic disease that affects the elderly group second only to hypertension and arthritis. Not only that, but it is also a risk factor that causes falls, cognitive impairment, depression, and more in older adults.

In the mainland, only 5% to 10% of the elderly with moderate to severe hearing impairment wear hearing aids, far lower than the 30% level in European and American countries. However, the hearing aid market represented by hearing aids has always been dominated by international giants, and the penetration rate of domestic hearing aids is less than 10%. With the application of artificial intelligence, Internet of Things and other technologies, the development speed of domestic hearing aid brands has accelerated, and they have begun to compete with imported brands.

Hearing aids not only amplify the sounds we want to hear, but also amplify noise, which is a long-term problem for many hearing-impaired people who wear hearing aids.

Since 2020, Tencent Ethereal Lab has begun to explore the use of algorithms and deep learning to reduce the noise of hearing aids, and has reached a cooperation with the domestic hearing aid brand Zhilisten. Based on Tencent Ethereal Lab's artificial intelligence acoustic algorithm, researchers improved the intelligibility and intelligibility of speech in complex scenarios by 85%. In 2022, iFLYTEK Co., Ltd. also released hearing aids that look similar to wireless Bluetooth headsets.

Fu Cong, artificial intelligence trainer of Tencent Ethereal Lab, said that to use artificial intelligence to solve the problem of hearing impaired users who cannot hear clearly, we must first do in-depth user research, find a typical product use environment, and design models in a targeted manner.

Fu Cong introduced that there are many life scenes for the hearing-impaired elderly, such as kitchens, restaurants, vegetable markets, and roadsides. "We want to record in various scenarios, carry out data cleaning, and train models in combination with our unique training methods. Then we test in a real environment, adjust the training data, iteratively optimize the model, and finally help more hearing-impaired people through the product. He said.

Manned climbing machine:

The "second legs" of the "dangling" crowd

In old communities without elevators, many elderly people with inconvenient legs and feet have trouble going up and down the stairs. Manned climbing machine (hereinafter referred to as climbing machine) has become an important tool for these "hanging old people" to go out.

Since the beginning of this year, Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province has actively promoted the rental service of electric climbing machines, making the climbing machine a "second leg" for the elderly and residents with reduced mobility.

The climbing machine looks like a large wheelchair, with its own intelligent cushioning comfort system, after the elderly sit down and fasten the seat belt, it can take the elderly up and down the stairs steadily. The climbing machine also comes with a step edge sensing function, which will automatically brake, and people sitting on it are a bit like sitting on a sedan chair.

In addition to going upstairs and downstairs, the need for disabled or semi-disabled elderly people to move from bed to wheelchair and move short distances in the room is also attracting attention.

Some domestic enterprises have developed flexible and intelligent auxiliary displacement devices. At the first Shenzhen International Smart Elderly Care Industry Expo held in mid-September this year, Tencent SSV Yinfa Technology Lab released an intelligent care product for the disabled and semi-disabled elderly - silver assistive lifting machine. According to reports, the product optimizes the traditional lifting action, adopts a semi-wrap-around carrying curve and a two-stage matching lifting design, which can easily lift the elderly, improve nursing efficiency and the safety of the elderly's movement.

According to reports, the product can also store shift data, push rod strength, battery use times, etc. in the cloud, adjust the above parameters through WeChat mini programs, and conduct real-time safety monitoring of the elderly. In the future, it is also expected to record the heart rate, blood pressure, weight and other vital signs of the elderly in real time, and integrate medical resources such as home, elderly care institutions, and communities to better provide health management and chronic disease auxiliary treatment for the elderly.

Fall Detection System:

The invisible "patron saint" of the silver-haired people

When the elderly fall unexpectedly, if they do not get help in time, it may threaten their lives. In order to protect the life and health of the elderly, the fall detection system came into being, which is known as the "guardian saint" of the elderly.

The fall detection system is a smart device based on advanced technology, which aims to detect falls in the elderly in time and take corresponding emergency measures. The system accurately monitors the movements and posture of the elderly and automatically triggers alarms and distress signals when a fall occurs.

Taking a fall detection system called "invisible caregiver" launched by a company as an example, when its intelligent nursing camera "sees" the elderly, it will capture key nodes of the human body to carry out human motion recognition and posture behavior analysis. Once it detects a fall, it will send an alarm to a family member or designated caregiver as soon as possible.

In addition, the "invisible caregiver" also has a "call for help word detection" function. When the elderly are unable to move due to an accidental fall in the video blind area or in scenes with privacy protection needs, such as bedrooms and bathrooms, the "invisible caregivers" can trigger an alarm by capturing the "call for help" spoken by the elderly, and its recognition accuracy is more than 90%.

At the same time, the elderly accompanied by "invisible caregivers", whether they are indoors or outdoors, when there is an accident such as a fall, as long as they call for help with one click, the four-level response mechanism composed of the government, children, communities, medical institutions, etc. will get relevant information in the first time. "Many elderly people do not live with their children and may be in danger at any time. We hope to help the elderly get timely assistance through the four-level response mechanism. Wang Nan, head of product operations, said.

In September this year, in Nanhai District, Foshan City, Guangdong Province, with the help of the above-mentioned four-level response mechanism, an elderly empty nester with sudden hypertension was successfully rescued. "I pressed the emergency button and they (first responders) quickly came and pulled me back from the ghost gate." The rescued old man said.

Voice Screening Technology:

Delay the onset of AD for 7 to 10 years

According to the data, the number of Alzheimer's disease (AD) patients among the elderly aged 60 and above in mainland China exceeds 9.83 million. Early screening and rehabilitation of Alzheimer's disease has also become the focus of academic and industrial attention.

According to reports, Shanghai Jiao Tong University is cooperating with Tencent SSV Silver Technology Laboratory to develop "Silver Brain Power" voice screening technology. This technology is based on voiceprint recognition, just let the elderly answer questions into the mobile phone, such as saying as many fruit or pet names as possible in 1 minute, describing the content of a picture as richly as possible, etc., 3 to 5 minutes can determine whether the elderly have mild cognitive impairment (the previous stage of Alzheimer's disease).

Zhou Ying, assistant researcher at Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, said that compared with the traditional Montreal cognitive assessment scale screening method, the accuracy rate of voice screening has exceeded 80%. This innovation will greatly improve the inclusiveness of screening for mild cognitive impairment and improve the efficiency of screening for community workers and medical personnel.

In addition, if it is judged to have mild cognitive impairment at the voice screening stage, the relevant elderly will have the opportunity to try a new digital therapy in the future - "Brain Intelligence Fun Gang". It will allow seniors to do cognitive exercises at home in a relaxed and fun way, like playing a game.

"If intervention is done at the stage of mild cognitive impairment, the onset of Alzheimer's disease can be delayed by 7 to 10 years." Dou Ruigang, head of Tencent's SSV silver technology lab, said.

At present, the research and development of "Brain Wisdom Fun Gang" is in the clinical trial stage, and it is expected to become a "digital prescription" in the future.