Detection of falls at home using floor vibrations and sound

Dima Litvak, Israel Gannot, Yaniv Zigel

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contributionpeer-review

17 Scopus citations

Abstract

Falls are very prevalent among the elderly especially in their home. Approximately one in every three adults 65 years old or older falls each year, 30% of those falls result in serious injuries and more than 70% of the event are at home. Rapid detection of fall events can reduce the rate of mortality and raise the chances to survive the event and return to independent living. In this paper we present an innovative automatic system for detection of elderly people falls at home. The system is based on floor vibration and acoustic sensing, and uses pattern recognition algorithm to discriminate between human fall events and other events. The proposed solution is unique, inexpensive, and does not require the person to wear anything. Using the proposed system we can detect human falls with a sensitivity of 97.5% and specificity of 98.5%.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publication2008 IEEE 25th Convention of Electrical and Electronics Engineers in Israel, IEEEI 2008
Pages514-518
Number of pages5
DOIs
StatePublished - 1 Dec 2008
Event2008 IEEE 25th Convention of Electrical and Electronics Engineers in Israel, IEEEI 2008 - Eilat, Israel
Duration: 3 Dec 20085 Dec 2008

Publication series

NameIEEE Convention of Electrical and Electronics Engineers in Israel, Proceedings

Conference

Conference2008 IEEE 25th Convention of Electrical and Electronics Engineers in Israel, IEEEI 2008
Country/TerritoryIsrael
CityEilat
Period3/12/085/12/08

Keywords

  • Fall detection
  • Pattern recognition
  • Signal processing

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Electrical and Electronic Engineering

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