Supporting Grandma: Enhanced Independence with an Electronic Nose

What Died in Here?

We’ve all been there. When you walk into the home of someone with sensory impairment. Caring for an aging loved one can be both rewarding and challenging, especially when they face anosmia, the loss of smell. This condition can significantly impact their quality of life and safety. In our family, we experienced this firsthand with our beloved grandmother, who, despite her anosmia, was determined to live independently.

Grandma was a fiercely independent woman who took pride in maintaining her home. However, her anosmia posed several challenges. She couldn’t detect the smell of spoiled food, mold, or even water leaks. Whenever we visited, we were often greeted with the question, “What died in here?” It was a lighthearted way to address a serious issue, but it highlighted the need for a solution to ensure her safety and well-being.

The Solution: Crowd-Sourced Smell Database

To address this challenge, we are developing an innovative solution: a crowd-sourced smell database to support electronic noses, or e-noses. These devices use an array of sensors to detect specific chemical compounds in the air, identifying odors and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) associated with common household issues like mold, bacterial growth, and spoiled food. By leveraging a vast database of smell profiles contributed by users, the e-nose can accurately identify and alert users to potential problems, ensuring a safer living environment.

The e-nose, powered by the collective knowledge of the community, will gave peace of mind, knowing that Grandma’s home wwill safer and healthier.

The Impact

This is one example of how an e-nose could improve your loved one’s safety but also enhance their quality of life. They can remain indepenent longer not having to worry about missing important cues that could affect their health. Our device will suport remote notification so that family can be notified in case Grndma needs aditional help.

Conclusion

An electronic nose, supported by a crowd-sourced smell database, can be a game-changer for individuals with anosmia, providing an extra layer of safety and security. It might just be the key to ensuring their safety and independence.

Next Steps

Our e-nose platform supports collaborative smell collection so that our smell lab specialists can build build the smell detection algorithms. We plan to support crowd-sourcing smells to reduce the cost of developing a household smell detector.

To raise money for our lab, were are asking you to vote for your favorite solution. Our lab provides education and job opportunities in a high-risk community.

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Integrating an e-Nose

For more information on how an e-Nose can be used in your business or product, schedule a free consultation

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