Alexa is a home-based application for artificial intelligence – a listening device that can respond to a variety of questions and commands. Now, a team at the University of Virginia is using similar technology to listen-in as people care for dementia patients. Because they struggle with loss of memory and the inability to handle complexity, those patients can get angry or resistant to suggestions, and that’s stressful for caregivers. The UVA device is able to detect frustration in their voices and suggest ways to help them keep their cool.
“The AI would be learning that you really don’t like mindfulness activities," says UVA Professor of computer science John Stankovic. "Pleasurable activities are more important, and those activities are requested from them when we are enrolling them in the project, so 'Do you like classical music? Do you like looking at photo albums of your grandchildren?' Things like this.”
Stankovic and his team has provided the technology to eleven caregivers, offering support, praise and suggestions when it’s convenient for them.
“They would like the recommendations when they want them, and so we added a button on there they just have to press when they want a recommendation,” he explains.
And he says using the electronic ear raises awareness about a caregiver’s own state of mind.
“It made them aware of their own emotions, and then they can – on their own – figure out ‘Maybe I should take a time out.’”
Stankovic says employing this Alexa-style service is easy.
“When we started this project COVID hit, and we were not able to interact with caregivers directly," he recalls. "We built the system where we could just mail it to them, and they take it out of the box, turn it on.”
The system is 80-90% effective at detecting stress through caregivers’ voices, and Stankovic says it could get better if they were to wear a smart watch that could detect changes in the chemistry of their skin as their moods change.
This report, provided by Virginia Public Radio, was made possible with support from the Virginia Education Association.
