A Review of Memory Aid Devices for an Ageing Population

The trend for designing memory aids for cognitively impaired elderly individuals is fast growing. In an effort to assist elderly people to carry out tasks of everyday living and to relieve caregivers, several memory aid technologies have recently been introduced. These devices range from everyday technologies such as handheld PDA’s to integrated sensory cueing devices. Based on the published literature describing these devices, this review will look at how these memory aids are designed to assist the user and whether they meet the needs and requirements of the older user. From the evaluations of these devices, it was shown that participant performances with the support of the memory systems were significantly improved compared to performances where the participants used internal strategies for remembering. These results show that electronic memory aids do have the potential to support memory in older individuals. This review will provide an insight into prospective memory and ageing, and the compensation devices which are designed to support memory decline due to ageing. There are three goals for the present review: (1) to outline the needs of older adults, (2) to review current memory aid devices, and (3) to consider how these devices meet the users needs.