

A two-year randomized controlled trial to identify effectiveness of smart homes, using X10 technology was conducted, comparing 34 treatment and 44 control home-based frail elders. Despite decline in health, the treatment group maintained their physical and cognitive functional statuses. The majority of smart home users reported great benefits, and recommended it to others. The application of smart home technology to retrofit existing houses will most likely assist elders to continue living in their own home. Choosing X10 technology, this project intended to assess the benefits of SH function in independent living among home-based frail elderly. For this project, both stand alone devices (for window and door safety tied with motion sensors and chimes, and remote control for TV/VCR, radio, and lighting) and computer controlled devices (for lighting, coffee maker, and medication reminder) were used. The purposes of this two-year SH intervention study were to: 1) test the possibility of application of commercially available X10 technology to make existing houses of frail elderly smart; 2) identify the user's subjective evaluation of SH functions; and 3) assess the effectiveness of the combined computer use and SH functions on participants' functional status and depression.