The World Is Aging

The world’s population is aging at a rate never seen before, and the World Health Organization says that by 2050 two billion people will be over the age of 60.

Longer lifespans can be attributed in part to the development of new technologies. But ironically, the people who come up with new technologies rarely focus on innovations that could make day-to-day life easier for the elderly.

Barbara Beskind is an exception. The 91-year-old Ms. Beskind has been designing products since the Great Depression and owns several patents on inflatable equipment for helping children improve their balance. Now a part-time designer at the legendary Silicon Valley design firm IDEO, Ms. Beskind is still coming up with ideas and in her spare time makes equipment and gadgets for her friends.

“As a designer, there’s always this dilemma,” Ms. Beskind says. “Do I keep this idea to myself until I can find a manufacturer? Or do I reveal these things, and give away the store? Well, I’m 91 now. I don’t have the time or money to wait around to get patents.”

Ms. Beskind talked to The Wall Street Journal about technological innovations she thinks could help the elderly. Here are edited excerpts:

A better walker
WSJ: Do you have any ideas for products for older people that don’t exist today?

MS. BESKIND: How about a device that can keep people from fracturing a hip? I would be interested in air bags that could be worn. I worked on a prototype, with five different sizes of hair curlers that come out from a waistband. But I couldn’t get a power source that could inflate them fast enough.

I’d also like to see a new addition to the telephone. Today, you have volume control on the receiver. What we should have is speed control. I get a message on the machine, and they leave a 13-digit phone number to call back. I am listening, and I have to grab a pen, and sometimes people talk so fast. Slowing down messages would be good.

Also, a lot of people who care for the elderly come from other countries and speak only rudimentary English. For people who are sick and bedridden, it can be very frustrating. We should have translation technology, a device where you speak into it in one language and it comes out in another.

Source: wsj

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