More and more older people are now remaining in their own homes rather than going to live with relatives or in a care home. And that’s partly possible because of technology, which helps fill in the gaps when elderly people need a bit of extra support but not a full-time carer.

One type of technology that has great potential to help seniors is voice assistant tech. While voice assistants are used by many people of all ages, they can be particularly useful for older people – for a variety of reasons.

So, what are voice assistants, and what can they do for you or an older loved one? Read on to learn all the ins and outs of this exciting new area of technology.

What are voice assistants?

A voice assistant isn’t truly an object you can buy. Rather, it’s software that responds to your voice, carrying out tasks and answering questions according to your needs. Today, many voice assistants use some variety of AI to help them do their work intelligently.

Voice assistants may be included in devices like phones or TVs. But you can also buy devices that have a main function of providing voice assistant support, such as Amazon’s Echo smart speaker or Google Nest devices.

What are some examples of voice assistants?

Many different voice assistants are available on the market, but the main ones belong to three major companies you’re already familiar with.

Amazon’s Alexa, Apple’s Siri and the Google Assistant are present in homes and devices throughout the UK, even for people who may not yet use them. Another major alternative is Microsoft’s Copilot Voice, which replaces Cortana as Microsoft’s entry in the voice assistant arena. However, this option may be less relevant to retired people as it’s a little more focused on business and work.

Amazon, Apple and Google also have voice assistant systems that are specifically for managing your home. These typically start with smart speakers that can then work with numerous other compatible devices around your home. Amazon’s Echo, Apple’s HomePod and Google Nest are the three main ones you may have heard of.

Individual devices may also have their own voice assistant functions, although these may be less sophisticated. For example, Samsung devices – including TVs and refrigerators – have an assistant called Bixby.

What can voice assistants do?

Voice assistants have many functions, ranging from simple to sophisticated, depending on:

Which assistant you’ve chosen
How you’ve trained it and set it up
What other devices the voice assistant is linked with.

For example, if you just have Siri on your iPhone, this assistant can set a timer for you or answer questions about historical facts, general knowledge information, mathematics or even simple language translations. You can also use it together with other apps. For example, you could ask it to create an appointment reminder on your Apple Calendar app. And one of its simplest yet most popular options is playing songs you’ve bought on Apple Music.

But if you have a whole smart home system controlled by a voice assistant, there are far more options. For example, with Google Nest, you can still listen to music, set a timer or ask basic questions, but you can also let your Nest device control other smart devices throughout your home. That means you could control your TV, thermostat, lights and more, just by using voice commands.

Why might seniors benefit from voice assistants?

It’s easy to see why many people of all ages view voice assistants as handy tools that help their day go more smoothly. But there are also ways in which voice assistants can help the unique needs of elderly people.

Vision impairments or blindness

It’s very common for older people to experience troubles with vision, whether that means macular degeneration, cataracts, or needing bifocals or varifocals. What’s more, older people have poorer night vision. So, it naturally follows that seniors may have difficulty reading small text on electronic devices.

In this situation, voice assistants can be very helpful because they can take care of a vast range of tasks without requiring the elderly person to read. An older person can ask about the weather and learn whether it’s going to rain without needing to look at a phone app.

Cognitive impairments and dementia

When we picture dementia, we often imagine more severe progressions of the disease, where a person requires full-time care. But it’s worth remembering that many older people have cognitive impairments that don’t (yet) meet the standard for dementia. They may also have early stages of dementia in which they can mostly function independently or with a family member’s help, but they need a little assistance if they get confused. Moreover, seniors can sometimes take medication that has side effects of drowsiness or disorientation.

In these instances, voice assistants can be very helpful as they smooth over issues that can happen if an older person gets slightly mixed up. For example, an elderly person with mild dementia might have a hard time remembering how to use the remote control for the TV. Instead, they can just ask the television to turn on a certain channel.

Voice assistants can also be used to set reminders and timers. These functions can be very helpful in ensuring that an older person who’s a bit forgetful makes it to doctor’s appointments and takes medication on time – not to mention taking cooked food off the burner when it’s done!

Movement difficulties

Mobility disabilities or just pain and stiffness when moving about are common in older people for many reasons, including arthritis, diabetes, dementia, or just weaker muscles and balance due to age.

More sophisticated smart home setups, compared with voice assistants, can allow an elderly person to do tasks like turning lights off and on. Since moving about in the dark can raise a senior’s risk of a dangerous fall, it can be safer for an older person with mobility troubles to remain in a lighted area and simply ask the voice assistant to turn on the lights upstairs before they head up the stairs. Likewise, voice assistants can also be paired with devices that let them control curtains – so an older person can close the curtains at sunset without ever having to leave their chair.

These functions can also be great for elderly people with hand tremors or stiffness in their hands, since they prevent the frustration and challenges that can come with trying to use a touchscreen.

Limitations of voice assistants

It’s easy to see that voice assistants can make a big difference in older people’s lives. But there are some difficulties and weaker points of the technology that it’s important to be aware of.

Voice recognition issues

Unfortunately, voice recognition technology today has some limitations. It may not understand some accents, and seniors with medical conditions that cause unclear speech could also experience problems.

Setup requirements

As we’ve discussed, voice assistants can be used with smart home devices to create environments where seniors can control many factors – like light and temperature – just by voice commands. But this type of smart home integration does require a little setup, which could be a barrier for some elderly people.

A learning curve

Although voice assistants seem as though they should be very simple to use – and in many ways they are – some issues can still crop up as older people are trying to learn to use them. For example, seniors will need to learn the specific way to phrase commands so that the voice assistant understands. They’ll also need to be aware that the voice assistant may be activated unintentionally if they speak its name while talking about it.

More broadly, using a voice assistant does involve just changing the way one does things, which can be something that not everyone enjoys. An older person might just prefer to continue with their usual routines.

Lack of suitability for emergencies

In many ways, a voice assistant can be like another person around for a senior who lives alone. The voice assistant can help do small tasks, give reminders or answer questions as a carer might.

But it’s crucial to remember that a voice assistant is not the same thing as someone else in the home who can help in emergencies. There are numerous emergency situations in which a voice assistant would be unable to help.

For example, an older person might slip and fall in the bathroom. But a voice assistant’s smart speaker is typically not taken into the bathroom, in part due to safety issues from the moisture. If the voice assistant’s smart speaker is kept in the living room, it could be unable to hear a fallen older person’s cries for help.

In other situations, a medical emergency could leave an elderly person unable to speak a clear sentence asking for help. It’s well known that strokes can impair a person’s speech, and other health crises could mean a senior was rapidly losing consciousness, unable to properly explain their needs to the voice assistant. Indeed, sometimes an elderly person can simply faint or fall and get knocked unconscious before they have a chance to say a single word.

All this is why voice assistant systems need to be paired with personal alarms – small body-worn devices that are specifically designed to get help in an emergency.

How personal alarms can fill in the gaps

Voice assistants and personal alarms can be a great set of tech solutions to help seniors all the time – both in everyday life and in emergencies.

Let’s consider that potential trip and fall in the bathroom. A personal alarm like SureSafe’s SureSafeGo is body-worn and shower-proof, so it can be – and should be – taken into the shower to keep its wearer safe there. If the senior does slip and fall in the shower, they can simply press a single SOS button to call for help – no need for a lengthy voice command.

And if the older person has simply fainted and can’t press a button, the personal alarm’s automatic fall detection can step in. This is a function that uses three sensors feeding into an algorithm that’s always working to detect falls. If the sensors indicate that a fall has occurred, the personal alarm will call for help independently, with no input from the wearer needed.

These same features also make all the difference in medical emergencies. Instead of trying to speak a clear sentence during a stroke, heart attack or other health crisis, an older person can simply press their SOS button. That’s a far simpler task that requires less time and less thought, too, so it’s more doable when a person is losing their ability to move or their awareness of their surroundings. And, again, if a person falls to the ground from a medical incident, automatic fall detection has the ability to detect the fall and make that call for help by itself.

Make a plan for emergencies with SureSafe

According to the UK government, almost a third of people aged 65+ fall at least once each year. Falls alone are a serious danger to older people, and they need a rapid response so that the elderly person isn’t left lying on the floor, unable to stand up.

Medical emergencies like heart attacks and strokes are another grave concern. And of course, a person suffering one of these needs help fast, too.

That’s why SureSafe has worked hard to create our affordable and easy-to-use personal alarms for the elderly. Our SureSafeGo alarm has all the features we’ve mentioned above and more, including GPS tracking to help keep seniors safe outdoors. Alternatively, choose our dementia tracker for older loved ones with dementia.

Long story short – if you’re considering using a voice assistant to help yourself or an older loved one with daily tasks, don’t forget to also get a device that’s specifically designed for emergencies. And if you’d like to know more about what our alarms do and how they can help older people, we’re here to assist. Just call our expert team on 0808 189 1671, try our live chat or request a call back, and we’ll be happy to talk with you about how our personal alarms can provide elderly people with protection and peace of mind.