Article

Falling is a common accident among older people. Automatic fall detectors are one
method of improving security. However, in most cases, fall detectors are designed
and tested with data from experimental falls in younger people. This study is one
of the first to provide fall-related acceleration data obtained from real-life
falls. Wireless sensors were used to collect acceleration data during a six-month
test period in older people. Data from five events representing forward falls, a
sideways fall, a backwards fall, and a fall out of bed were collected and
compared with experimental falls performed by middle-aged test subjects. The
signals from real-life falls had similar features to those from intentional
falls. Real-life forward, sideways and backward falls all showed a pre impact
phase and an impact phase that were in keeping with the model that was based on
experimental falls. In addition, the fall out of bed had a similar acceleration
profile as the experimental falls of the same type. However, there were
differences in the parameters that were used for the detection of the fall
phases. The beginning of the fall was detected in all of the real-life falls
starting from a standing posture, whereas the high pre impact velocity was not.
In some real-life falls, multiple impacts suggested protective actions. In
conclusion, this study demonstrated similarities between real-life falls of older
people and experimental falls of middle-aged subjects. However, some fall
characteristics detected from experimental falls were not detectable in
acceleration signals from corresponding heterogeneous real-life falls.
CI - Copyright A(c) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Langue : ANGLAIS