Deep learning based fall detection using smartwatches for healthcare applications

Deep feature fusion with computer vision driven fall detection approach for enhanced assisted living safety

Assisted living facilities cater to the demands of the elderly population, providing assistance and support with day-to-day activities. Fall detection is fundamental to ensuring their well-being and safety. Falls are frequent among older persons and might cause severe injuries and complications. Incorporating computer vision techniques into assisted living environments is revolutionary for these issues. By leveraging cameras and complicated approaches, a computer vision (CV) system can monitor residents' movements continuously and identify any potential fall events in real time. CV, driven by deep learning (DL) techniques, allows continuous surveillance of people through cameras, investigating complicated visual information to detect potential fall risks or any instances of falls quickly. This system can learn from many visual data by leveraging DL, improving its capability to identify falls while minimalizing false alarms precisely. Incorporating CV and DL enhances the efficiency and reliability of fall detection and allows proactive intervention, considerably decreasing response times in emergencies. This study introduces a new Deep Feature Fusion with Computer Vision for Fall Detection and Classification (DFFCV-FDC) technique. The primary purpose of the DFFCV-FDC approach is to employ the CV concept for detecting fall events. Accordingly, the DFFCV-FDC approach uses the Gaussian filtering (GF) approach for noise eradication. Besides, a deep feature fusion process comprising MobileNet, DenseNet, and ResNet models is involved. To improve the performance of the DFFCV-FDC technique, improved pelican optimization algorithm (IPOA) based hyperparameter selection is performed. Finally, the detection of falls is identified using the denoising autoencoder (DAE) model. The performance analysis of the DFFCV-FDC methodology was examined on the benchmark fall database. A widespread comparative study reported the supremacy of the DFFCV-FDC approach with existing techniques.

An Effective Deep Learning Framework for Fall Detection: Model Development and Study Design

BACKGROUND

Fall detection is of great significance in safeguarding human health. By monitoring the motion data, a fall detection system (FDS) can detect a fall accident. Recently, wearable sensors-based FDSs have become the mainstream of research, which can be categorized into threshold-based FDSs using experience, machine learning-based FDSs using manual feature extraction, and deep learning (DL)-based FDSs using automatic feature extraction. However, most FDSs focus on the global information of sensor data, neglecting the fact that different segments of the data contribute variably to fall detection. This shortcoming makes it challenging for FDSs to accurately distinguish between similar human motion patterns of actual falls and fall-like actions, leading to a decrease in detection accuracy.

OBJECTIVE

This study aims to develop and validate a DL framework to accurately detect falls using acceleration and gyroscope data from wearable sensors. We aim to explore the essential contributing features extracted from sensor data to distinguish falls from activities of daily life. The significance of this study lies in reforming the FDS by designing a weighted feature representation using DL methods to effectively differentiate between fall events and fall-like activities.

METHODS

Based on the 3-axis acceleration and gyroscope data, we proposed a new DL architecture, the dual-stream convolutional neural network self-attention (DSCS) model. Unlike previous studies, the used architecture can extract global feature information from acceleration and gyroscope data. Additionally, we incorporated a self-attention module to assign different weights to the original feature vector, enabling the model to learn the contribution effect of the sensor data and enhance classification accuracy. The proposed model was trained and tested on 2 public data sets: SisFall and MobiFall. In addition, 10 participants were recruited to carry out practical validation of the DSCS model. A total of 1700 trials were performed to test the generalization ability of the model.

RESULTS

The fall detection accuracy of the DSCS model was 99.32% (recall=99.15%; precision=98.58%) and 99.65% (recall=100%; precision=98.39%) on the test sets of SisFall and MobiFall, respectively. In the ablation experiment, we compared the DSCS model with state-of-the-art machine learning and DL models. On the SisFall data set, the DSCS model achieved the second-best accuracy; on the MobiFall data set, the DSCS model achieved the best accuracy, recall, and precision. In practical validation, the accuracy of the DSCS model was 96.41% (recall=95.12%; specificity=97.55%).

CONCLUSIONS

This study demonstrates that the DSCS model can significantly improve the accuracy of fall detection on 2 publicly available data sets and performs robustly in practical validation.

Edge Computing Transformers for Fall Detection in Older Adults

The global trend of increasing life expectancy introduces new challenges with far-reaching implications. Among these, the risk of falls among older adults is particularly significant, affecting individual health and the quality of life, and placing an additional burden on healthcare systems. Existing fall detection systems often have limitations, including delays due to continuous server communication, high false-positive rates, low adoption rates due to wearability and comfort issues, and high costs. In response to these challenges, this work presents a reliable, wearable, and cost-effective fall detection system. The proposed system consists of a fit-for-purpose device, with an embedded algorithm and an Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU), enabling real-time fall detection. The algorithm combines a Threshold-Based Algorithm (TBA) and a neural network with low number of parameters based on a Transformer architecture. This system demonstrates notable performance with 95.29% accuracy, 93.68% specificity, and 96.66% sensitivity, while only using a 0.38% of the trainable parameters used by the other approach.

Technological Innovations to Improve Patient Engagement in Nephrology

Technological innovation has accelerated exponentially over the last 2 decades. From the rise of smartphones and social media in the early 2000s to the mainstream accessibility of artificial intelligence (AI) in 2023, digital advancements have transformed the way we live and work. These innovations have permeated health care, covering a spectrum of applications from virtual reality training platforms to AI-powered clinical decision support tools. In this review, we explore fascinating recent innovations that have and can facilitate patient engagement in nephrology. These include integrated care mobile applications, wearable health monitoring tools, virtual/augmented reality consultation and education platforms, AI-powered appointment booking systems, and patient information tools. We also discuss potential pitfalls in implementation and paradigms to adopt that may protect patients from unintended consequences of being cared for in a digitalized health care system.

A novel WGF-LN based edge driven intelligence for wearable devices in human activity recognition

Human activity recognition (HAR) is one of the key applications of health monitoring that requires continuous use of wearable devices to track daily activities. The most efficient supervised machine learning (ML)-based approaches for predicting human activity are based on a continuous stream of sensor data. Sensor data analysis for human activity recognition using conventional algorithms and deep learning (DL) models shows promising results, but evaluating their ambiguity in decision-making is still challenging. In order to solve these issues, the paper proposes a novel Wasserstein gradient flow legonet WGF-LN-based human activity recognition system. At first, the input data is pre-processed. From the pre-processed data, the features are extracted using Haar Wavelet mother- Symlet wavelet coefficient scattering feature extraction (HS-WSFE). After that, the interest features are selected from the extracted features using (Binomial Distribution integrated-Golden Eagle Optimization) BD-GEO. The important features are then post-processed using the scatter plot matrix method. Obtained post-processing features are finally given into the WGF-LN for classifying human activities. From these experiments, the results can be obtained and showed the efficacy of the proposed model.

IoT-blockchain empowered Trinet: optimized fall detection system for elderly safety

Numerous elderly folks reside alone in their homes. Seniors may find it difficult to ask for assistance if they fall. As the elderly population keeps growing, elderly fall incidents are becoming a critical public health concern. Creating a fall detection system for the elderly using IoT and blockchain is the aim of this study. Data collection, pre-processing, feature extraction, feature selection, fall detection, and emergency response and assistance are the six fundamental aspects of the proposed model. The sensor data is collected from wearable devices using elderly such as accelerometers and gyroscopes. The collected data is pre-processed using missing value removal, null value handling. The features are extracted after pre-processed data using statistical features, autocorrelation, and Principal Component Analysis The proposed approach utilizes a novel hybrid HSSTL combines Teaching-Learning-Based Optimization and Spring Search Algorithm to select the optimal features. The proposed approach employs TriNet, including Long Short-Term Memory, optimized Convolutional Neural Network (CNN), and Recurrent Neural Network for accurate fall detection. To enhance fall detection accuracy, use the optimized Convolutional Neural Network obtained through the hybrid optimization model HSSTL. Securely store fall detection information in the Blockchain network when a fall occurs. Alert neighbours, family members, or those providing immediate assistance about the fall occurrence using Blockchain network. The proposed model is implemented in Python. The effectiveness of the suggested model is evaluated using metrics for accuracy, precision, recall, sensitivity, specificity, f-measure, NPV, FPR, FNR, and MCC. The proposed model outperformed with the maximum accuracy of 0.974015 at an 80% learning rate, whereas the suggested model had the best accuracy score of 0.955679 at a 70% learning rate.

Synergistic Integration of Skeletal Kinematic Features for Vision-Based Fall Detection

According to the World Health Organisation, falling is a major health problem with potentially fatal implications. Each year, thousands of people die as a result of falls, with seniors making up 80% of these fatalities. The automatic detection of falls may reduce the severity of the consequences. Our study focuses on developing a vision-based fall detection system. Our work proposes a new feature descriptor that results in a new fall detection framework. The body geometry of the subject is analyzed and patterns that help to distinguish falls from non-fall activities are identified in our proposed method. An AlphaPose network is employed to identify 17 keypoints on the human skeleton. Thirteen keypoints are used in our study, and we compute two additional keypoints. These 15 keypoints are divided into five segments, each of which consists of a group of three non-collinear points. These five segments represent the left hand, right hand, left leg, right leg and craniocaudal section. A novel feature descriptor is generated by extracting the distances from the segmented parts, angles within the segmented parts and the angle of inclination for every segmented part. As a result, we may extract three features from each segment, giving us 15 features per frame that preserve spatial information. To capture temporal dynamics, the extracted spatial features are arranged in the temporal sequence. As a result, the feature descriptor in the proposed approach preserves the spatio-temporal dynamics. Thus, a feature descriptor of size [m×15] is formed where m is the number of frames. To recognize fall patterns, machine learning approaches such as decision trees, random forests, and gradient boost are applied to the feature descriptor. Our system was evaluated on the UPfall dataset, which is a benchmark dataset. It has shown very good performance compared to the state-of-the-art approaches.

Improving Inertial Sensor-Based Activity Recognition in Neurological Populations

Inertial sensor-based human activity recognition (HAR) has a range of healthcare applications as it can indicate the overall health status or functional capabilities of people with impaired mobility. Typically, artificial intelligence models achieve high recognition accuracies when trained with rich and diverse inertial datasets. However, obtaining such datasets may not be feasible in neurological populations due to, e.g., impaired patient mobility to perform many daily activities. This study proposes a novel framework to overcome the challenge of creating rich and diverse datasets for HAR in neurological populations. The framework produces images from numerical inertial time-series data (initial state) and then artificially augments the number of produced images (enhanced state) to achieve a larger dataset. Here, we used convolutional neural network (CNN) architectures by utilizing image input. In addition, CNN enables transfer learning which enables limited datasets to benefit from models that are trained with big data. Initially, two benchmarked public datasets were used to verify the framework. Afterward, the approach was tested in limited local datasets of healthy subjects (HS), Parkinson's disease (PD) population, and stroke survivors (SS) to further investigate validity. The experimental results show that when data augmentation is applied, recognition accuracies have been increased in HS, SS, and PD by 25.6%, 21.4%, and 5.8%, respectively, compared to the no data augmentation state. In addition, data augmentation contributes to better detection of stair ascent and stair descent by 39.1% and 18.0%, respectively, in limited local datasets. Findings also suggest that CNN architectures that have a small number of deep layers can achieve high accuracy. The implication of this study has the potential to reduce the burden on participants and researchers where limited datasets are accrued.

Human Activity Recognition System For Moderate Performance Microcontroller Using Accelerometer Data And Random Forest Algorithm

There has been increasing interest in the application of artificial intelligence technologies to improve the quality of support services in healthcare. Some constraints, such as space, infrastructure, and environmental conditions, present challenges with assistive devices for humans. This paper proposed a wearable-based real-time human activity recognition system to monitor daily activities. The classification was done directly on the device, and the results could be checked over the internet. The accelerometer data collection application was developed on the device with a sampling frequency of 20Hz, and the random forest algorithm was embedded in the hardware. To improve the accuracy of the recognition system, a feature vector of 31 dimensions was calculated and used as an input per time window. Besides, the dynamic window method applied by the proposed model allowed us to change the data sampling time (1-3 seconds) and increase the performance of activity classification. The experiment results showed that the proposed system could classify 13 activities with a high accuracy of 99.4%. The rate of correctly classified activities was 96.1%. This work is promising for healthcare because of the convenience and simplicity of wearables.

Machine-Learning-Based Human Fall Detection Using Contact- and Noncontact-Based Sensors

Automated human fall detection is an essential area of research due to its health implications in day-to-day life. Detecting and timely reporting of human falls may lead to saving human life. In this paper, fall detection has been targeted using machine-learning-based approaches from two perspectives regarding data sources, that is, contact-based and noncontact-based sensors. In both of these cases, various methods based on deep learning and machine learning techniques have been attempted, and their performances were compared. The approaches analyze data in fixed time windows and extract features in the time domain or spatial domain which obtain relative information between consecutive data samples. After experimentation, it was found that the proposed noncontact-based sensor techniques outperformed the contact-based sensor techniques by a margin of 1.82%. After this, it was also found that the noncontact-based sensor techniques outperformed the state of the art of noncontact-based sensor results by a margin of 3.15%. To better suit these techniques for real-world applications, embedded board implementation and privacy preservation of subject by using advanced methods such as compressive sensing and feature encoding need to be attempted.

Towards Secure and Intelligent Internet of Health Things: A Survey of Enabling Technologies and Applications

With the growth of computing and communication technologies, the information processing paradigm of the healthcare environment is evolving. The patient information is stored electronically, making it convenient to store and retrieve patient information remotely when needed. However, evolving the healthcare systems into smart healthcare environments comes with challenges and additional pressures. Internet of Things (IoT) connects things, such as computing devices, through wired or wireless mediums to form a network. There are numerous security vulnerabilities and risks in the existing IoT-based systems due to the lack of intrinsic security technologies. For example, patient medical data, data privacy, data sharing, and convenience are considered imperative for collecting and storing electronic health records (EHR). However, the traditional IoT-based EHR systems cannot deal with these paradigms because of inconsistent security policies and data access structures. Blockchain (BC) technology is a decentralized and distributed ledger that comes in handy in storing patient data and encountering data integrity and confidentiality challenges. Therefore, it is a viable solution for addressing existing IoT data security and privacy challenges. BC paves a tremendous path to revolutionize traditional IoT systems by enhancing data security, privacy, and transparency. The scientific community has shown a variety of healthcare applications based on artificial intelligence (AI) that improve health diagnosis and monitoring practices. Moreover, technology companies and startups are revolutionizing healthcare with AI and related technologies. This study illustrates the implication of integrated technologies based on BC, IoT, and AI to meet growing healthcare challenges. This research study examines the integration of BC technology with IoT and analyzes the advancements of these innovative paradigms in the healthcare sector. In addition, our research study presents a detailed survey on enabling technologies for the futuristic, intelligent, and secure internet of health things (IoHT). Furthermore, this study comprehensively studies the peculiarities of the IoHT environment and the security, performance, and progression of the enabling technologies. First, the research gaps are identified by mapping security and performance benefits inferred by the BC technologies. Secondly, practical issues related to the integration process of BC and IoT devices are discussed. Third, the healthcare applications integrating IoT, BC, and ML in healthcare environments are discussed. Finally, the research gaps, future directions, and limitations of the enabling technologies are discussed.

Human Activity Recognition Based on Embedded Sensor Data Fusion for the Internet of Healthcare Things

Nowadays, the emerging information technologies in smart handheld devices are motivating the research community to make use of embedded sensors in such devices for healthcare purposes. In particular, inertial measurement sensors such as accelerometers and gyroscopes embedded in smartphones and smartwatches can provide sensory data fusion for human activities and gestures. Thus, the concepts of the Internet of Healthcare Things (IoHT) paradigm can be applied to handle such sensory data and maximize the benefits of collecting and analyzing them. The application areas contain but are not restricted to the rehabilitation of elderly people, fall detection, smoking control, sportive exercises, and monitoring of daily life activities. In this work, a public dataset collected using two smartphones (in pocket and wrist positions) is considered for IoHT applications. Three-dimensional inertia signals of thirteen timestamped human activities such as Walking, Walking Upstairs, Walking Downstairs, Writing, Smoking, and others are registered. Here, an efficient human activity recognition (HAR) model is presented based on efficient handcrafted features and Random Forest as a classifier. Simulation results ensure the superiority of the applied model over others introduced in the literature for the same dataset. Moreover, different approaches to evaluating such models are considered, as well as implementation issues. The accuracy of the current model reaches 98.7% on average. The current model performance is also verified using the WISDM v1 dataset.

A Deep Convolutional Neural Network-XGB for Direction and Severity Aware Fall Detection and Activity Recognition

Activity and Fall detection have been a topic of keen interest in the field of ambient assisted living system research. Such systems make use of different sensing mechanisms to monitor human motion and aim to ascertain the activity being performed for health monitoring and other purposes. Towards this end, in addition to activity recognition, fall detection is an especially important task as falls can lead to injuries and sometimes even death. This work presents a fall detection and activity recognition system that not only considers various activities of daily living but also considers detection of falls while taking into consideration the direction and severity. Inertial Measurement Unit (accelerometer and gyroscope) data from the SisFall dataset is first windowed into non-overlapping segments of duration 3 s. After suitable data augmentation, it is then passed on to a Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) for feature extraction with an eXtreme Gradient Boosting (XGB) last stage for classification into the various output classes. The experiments show that the gradient boosted CNN performs better than other comparable techniques, achieving an unweighted average recall of 88%.