Medical Remote Monitoring using sound environment analysis and wearable sensors

Abstract

The developments of technological progress allow the generalization of digital technology in the medicine area, not only the transmission of images, audio streams, but also the information that accompany them. Many medical specialties can take advantage of the opportunity offered by these new communication tools which allow the information share between medical staff. The practice of medicine takes a new meaning by the development and diffusion of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT). In the health field, unlike other economic sectors, the technical progress is not necessarily generating productivity gains but generate more safety and comfort for patients. Another fact is that the population age increases in all societies throughout the world. In Europe, for example, the life expectancy for men is about 71 years and for women about 79 years. For North America the life expectancy, currently is about 75 for men and 81 for womeni. Moreover, the elderly prefer to preserve their independence, autonomy and way of life living at home the longest time possible. The number of medical specialists decreases with respect to the increasing number of elderly fact that allowed the development of technological systems to assure the safety (telemedicine applications). The elderly living at home are in most of the cases (concerning Western and Central Europe and North America) living alone and with an increased risk of accidents. In France, about 4.5 % of men and 8.9% of women aged of 65+ years has an everyday life accidentii. Between these everyday life accidents, the most important part is represented by the domestic accidents; about 61% (same source) and 54% of them take place inside the house. In France, annually, 2 millions of elderly falls take place, which represent the source of 10 000 deathsiii. Between 30% and 55% of falls cause bruises and only 3% to 13% of falls are the causes of serious injuries such as fractures, dislocation of a joint, or wounds. Apart from physical injury and hospitalization, a fall can cause a shock (especially if the person cannot recover only after the fall). This condition can seriously affect the senior psychology, he might looses the confidence in his abilities and can result in a limitation of daily activities and, consequently, in a decrease of the life quality. In order to improve the quality of life of elderly several applications has been developed: home telemonitoring in order to detect distress situations and audio-video transmission in order to allow specialists to diagnose patient at distance. This chapter describe a medical remote monitoring solution allowing the elderly people to live at home in safety.