A Comprehensive Review of Smart Home Technologies for Elderly Support

A rapidly aging world population, sometimes referred to as the gray tsunami, places extraordinary values of socioeconomic strains on conventional healthcare infrastructures and care-giver resources. Consequently, there is the need for a paradigm shift to aging in place, to enable older adults as well as persons with disabilities to live independently and in safety in their own homes. This research provides a comprehensive review of key developments in Smart Home technologies and the Internet of Things over the past decade, with the desire of allowing autonomous life for the elderly. It systematically defines physiological, cognitive and psycho-social challenges of aging and this identifies Assisted Living and Smart Home architectures as a key area for solutions to these vulnerabilities. Furthermore, several technological interventions, such as automated health assessments, contactless vital sign monitors and intelligent medicine dispensers, are by themselves able to address a wide range of declines with age, the review considers. While the shift from reactive clinical interventions to proactive ambient monitoring offers great potential for improving the quality of life, such widespread use of these systems is confronted with huge systemic and infrastructural obstacles. Findings highlight the important need for universal interoperability protocols, human-centered design methodologies and strong data privacy measures. Ultimately, an integration of innovations such as Edge computing and Generative Artificial Intelligence will be required in order to successfully implement intelligent, pervasive environments as a necessary pillar of modern geriatric care.