October 2021

Do you worry about the safety of your residents during the night? What if they fall when getting out of bed or are off wandering?

Tochtech Technologies is pleased to announce a unique feature to its award-winning Sleepsense bed sensor.

With the night light safety feature when a resident gets out of a bed equipped with Sleepsense, smart night lights will automatically come on to help guide the senior to the bathroom or provide sufficient lighting to help reduce risk of falls. The lights will also automatically turn off when Sleepsense detects that the resident is back in bed.

The team at Tochtech has successfully integrated the Sleepsense ‘off bed’ detection with a range of popular  and affordable smart lighting devices enabling smart night lights or smart table lamps to automatically turn on during the night when the sleeper is out of bed. Providing visual cues like night lights can help seniors with dementia to be less disorientated and help direct them to the bathroom. Non-disruptive low lighting when they get out of bed can also help reduce risk of falls.

“Many of our clients have expressed the need for increased  support for night safety, to reduce risk of falls for seniors. With this added feature Sleepsense is able to address a range of night time safety and risk concerns. We having been working hard to build more features into the device, and will be announcing additional features in the weeks to come” said Jessica Yang, CEO and Co-founder of Tochtech . Check out Frank  Engleman’s article sharing his experience with this feature on Tech enhanced life website.

 Toch Sleepsense is an award-winning bed sensor that is able to detect body movement, in and out of bed status and vital signs (heart and breathing rate). Placed under the leg/wheel of the bed, Sleepsense issues real time alerts directly to caregivers’ smartphone when a health or safety risk is identified. Additionally, sleep analysis data offers critical information and feedback for medication and care plans.

For more information on Toch Sleepsense please visit www.tochsleepsense.com

Tochtech’s seniors-focused solutions are the basis for two significant research projects taking place this October. Both these Mitacs sponsored projects are looking to understand how the senior care industry which has faced many challenges in the last two years, can benefit from technology and innovation.

Night Time Bed Occupancy Project is focused on better supporting staff caring for Persons Living with Dementia (PLWD) within assisted living and other communal living models.  One key symptom of dementia is disorientation for time and/or place that can lead to a disruption in the circadian rhythm. A result of this, is that PLWD can wake overnight and be confused about when and/or where they are, leading to them exiting their bed and wandering that can include leaving their own room in a care home, or potentially falling and not being detected until someone happens to check on them. Researchers are using Tochtech’s Sleepsense bed monitor to assess if the sensor system will improve staff ability to support residents that have exited beds through more effective response and staff efficiency. Collaborating parties on this 6-month project include SAM³ (researchers from Carleton, Bruyère and UOttawa),  Bruyère Continuing Care, Courtyards Senior Residences and Tochtech Technologies.

Using smart audio devices in seniors’ home environments, researchers from UBC are looking to explore perspectives and experiences of seniors, families and care staff using smart audio devices in senior care settings to broaden user-friendly considerations for future development of senior-focused smart devices. For this project Tochtech’s Tochie personalized smart speaker will be the basis of the project which will involve participation from seniors and their families from Amica White Rock, UBC researchers and Tochtech Technologies. Focus groups will be held at the end of the project for participants’ feedback.

“We are thrilled to be collaborators on both these projects and contribute to improvement in senior care. We are always looking for ways to improve our products and to learn more about the needs of seniors and their families, and research participation is one way to achieve this, while also giving back”, said Jessica Yang, CEO of Tochtech Technologies.

For more information on either of these projects or our products, please visit www.tochtech.com