This chapter demonstrates how much the field of technology and aging has evolved during the last decade. It also delineates that the means of information and communication technology are helpful, but there are limitations due to the increased complexity in producing a book on technology and aging, which has been conceptualized to be comprehensive, multinational, and to cross many professional disciplines. The chapter presents synopses of a general recapitulation and a review of commonalities and dissimilarities. It covers many common denominators and stances that can reasonably be adopted for longer standing recommendations and principles. Chronic health conditions have become dominant in comparison to acute ones of the last century. The chapter reviews how the different parts fit in to some general fields of gerontology and geriatrics and recommendations that should be useful to both researchers and practitioners alike, primarily when they are active in technology and aging.

In order to appreciate the importance of appropriate lighting for older adults, it is necessary to understand the various ways in which it contributes to independence and health of the elderly, including the visual and nonvisual effects of light. The physiological changes lead to degradation in visual acuity, contrast sensitivity, color discrimination, reduced visual field, and an increased sensitivity to glare. The World Health Organization is a good resource for prevalence and magnitude of visual impairment and blindness worldwide. The quality of the visual environment is just as important as the lighting. Light reflectance value (LRVs) are used to determine value contrast between an object and its background. Lighting systems must address all of the elements identified under quantity and quality of light. Policy makers, code officials, design professionals, medical communities, governmental agencies, and aging people themselves need to know more about the visual and nonvisual effects of light.

This conclusion presents some closing thoughts on key concepts discussed in the preceding chapters of this book. In the book, the reviews of research related to work most directly address compensation for age-associated limitations in perceptual-motor functioning. The book analyzes the goals of technological interventions for the aging in terms of a broader social science basis drawing on the concepts of selection, optimization, and compensation. It classifies assistive technologies (AT) related to chronic medical and functional limitations of aging, robotics, and augmented communication, and reality. The book summarizes research on cognitive aids and robotics. It describes the requirements for people and devices in a system analysis of medical air transportation of injured people, and then extended to emergency health care. The book provides an interesting account of how guided access to computers and the Internet can be made part of retired film workers’ everyday activities.

Populations around the world are aging rapidly and increasing: The issue of designing products and technologies that not only support older people in their daily living, but also take into account their needs and preferences is a challenge to both engineers and designers engaged in either research or practice. A range of techniques-including “user-centered design” and “participatory design” have been developed to assist designers in understanding their user population. If the needs of older and disabled users are to be effectively included in the design process, some significant differences must be introduced into the user-centered design paradigm. User-sensitive inclusive design brings into focus not only the substantial variability that exists in user characteristics, but also the nature of the functionality they have, over both short- and long-time scales, which, mutatis mutandis, can represent changes in physical, sensory, and cognitive abilities.

Revisiting the plight of Roger Simpson, a retired firefighter in the opening vignette, this review of the pertinent cognitive aging and human factors literature demonstrates that it is vital for technology designers that target older adult users to consider the complex interaction between attitudes regarding usefulness, system usability, and cognitive abilities as well as limitations. While discussing a variety of technologies, it is apparent that the key to successfully creating technologies that older adults like Mr. Simpson want to use lies in the provision of environmental and cognitive support. Design choices that consider and adequately compensate for Mr. Simpson’s functional limitations should promote usability, but this can be determined only with evaluation. This holistic approach to augmenting older adults’ capabilities can also be applied to technologies that are or will soon be readily available to users of all ages and consider the ultimate realization of automated technology robotics.

The aging process is accompanied by changes that occur at every level, including sensory and perceptual capabilities. At first glance, one would hope that normal vision in aging equals unchanged visual ability throughout the life span; however, there are several irreversible anatomical changes and functional consequences that are reasonable to expect, even in the absence of any disease. Diabetic retinopathy is generally caused by the proliferation of extraneous and unstable blood vessels in the retina that are prone to bleeding, thereby scarring the retina. Much like the visual system, anatomy, physiology, and hearing functions change with aging. Hearing aids may serve to compensate for the differential loss of hearing sensitivity across the frequency range. In the context of gerontechnology design, it is advisable to at least account for decreased touch sensitivity and poorer manual dexterity when developing assistive technology for older adults.

This chapter discusses the challenges and potentials concerning technology use in older adults with cognitive impairment mainly from a psychological point of view. It addresses older adults who reveal cognitive performance deficits clearly beyond normal age-related cognitive loss trajectories. The chapter explores cognitive impairment into the context of psychological resources, motivational resources, age stereotyping, and technology acceptance. It establishes frameworks that might be helpful to address technology use in the situation of cognitive impairment. The chapter examines differentiation between mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and various stages of dementia and uses this differentiation to discuss technology acceptance and performance issues. It also discusses the rather innovative issue of technology as a diagnostic means with the potential of contributing to the challenge of early detection of cognitive impairment pathways. The chapter considers the role of cohort issues and its implications for future research and practice.

This chapter analyzes new product development projects and solutions targeting the silver market, using a qualitative approach. It compares different approaches to cater to the specific needs of older people by using examples based on a multiple case analysis?. This analyzes reveal that the common denominator of the resulting innovations is their function and ability to help older people stay autonomous and independent. A more hyphenate? analysis revealed that the autonomy-enhancing effects covered different types of autonomy: social, physical, and financial. It also analyzes innovation management and product development for older users. The chapter proposes autonomy as a starting point for the opportunity recognition process, as one common, important characteristic. It shows one way to approach the silver market without explicitly excluding younger customers is to focus on autonomy, representing a good life, disappearing in a more or less continuous manner over a human being’s life cycle.

This chapter contributes the conceptual literature about caregiving and technology. It introduces the family technologist as a new role in caregiving. Older adults’ social needs are highly individualized and contextualized, depending on family structure, geographical proximity, and personal preference. Providing care to ill and/or frail elders can challenge the entire caregiving team, including the family technologist. Family technologists are likely to first consider what technologies can provide help for current and future needs. For many societies across the globe, demographic changes, economic challenges, and shifting social norms are the shared driving forces shaping kinship structures and the ways in which families care for their oldest members. The family technologist installs, supports, and encourages the use of technologies that will allow older adults to maintain their independence for as long as possible and stay connected to disparate family members.