Healthcare Informatics – Wearable and Ambient Sensors to Monitor the Wellbeing of Elderly People

Dear Colleagues,

Advances in medicine, such as better treatments and medications, and raised awareness of healthy living have resulted in increased life expectancy on a global scale. This translates into healthy aging, defined by the WHO as "the process of developing and maintaining the functional ability that enables wellbeing in older age." However, has presented new challenges such as providing appropriate health care for elderly people, which is difficult in many countries due to understaffing and reliance on informal carers (relatives and friends).

Technological solutions in the form of wearable and ambient sensors have proved to mitigate the burden and costs of monitoring and supporting carers of elderly people. Wearable sensors are typically worn by users on their wrists in the form of fitness bands or smartwatches. Ambient sensors are placed in the environment (the room or rooms where the person spends the most time) and are not intrusive in the sense that the user grows used to them, allowing them to go unnoticed during data collection. Examples of ambient sensors are thermal cameras, microphones, radar, and contact sensors. A typical solution using wearable and/or ambient sensors involves installing the sensors, collecting and preprocessing the data, extracting features, performing data analysis, interpreting the results, and creating some type of intervention (notifications, alerts, etc.) to benefit elderly people while they perform Activities of Daily Living (ADLs).

This Special Issue aims to report the latest advances and trends concerning the use of wearable and ambient sensors to monitor the wellbeing of elderly people. Papers of both a theoretical and applicative nature are welcome.

Dr. Matias Garcia-Constantino
Dr. Irvin Hussein Lopez-Nava
Dr. Idongesit Ekerete
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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• connected health
• sensors
• elderly people
• wearable sensors
• ambient sensors