Survey on the Acceptance of Ambient Sensors in Solo and Older Couple-Only Households in Japan

For this study, an online survey was conducted to discover the preferences of older adults when they used sensors in their households, rather than the preferences of the researchers who developed them. The sample size was 400 Japanese community-dwelling people aged 65 years and older. The numbers of samples for men and women, household composition (single-person/couple-only household), and younger senior (younger than 74 years old) and older senior (older than 75 years old) were equally assigned. The survey results showed that “informational security” and “constancy of life” were considered more important than other factors when installing sensors. Furthermore, looking at the results regarding the type of sensors that face resistance, we found that both cameras and microphones were evaluated as facing slightly strong resistance, while doors/windows, temperature/humidity, CO(2)/gas/smoke, and water flow were evaluated as not facing such strong resistance. The elderly who are likely to need sensors in the future also have various attributes, and the introduction of ambient sensors in elderly households may be further advanced by recommending applications that are easy to introduce based on the attributes of the target population, rather than discussing all of them in general.