Can Smart Speakers Work as Medical Alert Devices?

Smart speakers can help to improve your senior parent’s independence, but you should never rely on them for emergency services. Smart speakers, like the Amazon Echo and Google Home, are becoming more common across the country. There are more than 150 million smart speakers in United States households, and the number is only continuing to grow. Increasingly, these speakers are being used to aid in emergencies.

Household technology has myriad opportunities to provide safety features, but they should never replace your medical alert system. We all know that cell phones can be a helpful tool in an emergency, but even newer technologies – like smart speakers – are beginning to claim a larger share of the emergency medical response space. While these smart speakers can provide some emergency services, they should never be relied upon for medical alerts.

Here are a few ways in which a smart speaker may be useful in an emergency.

• Smart speakers can provide severe weather alerts.
  

• This technology can offer basic medical advice. They typically do this by conducting a web search and providing the most viewed search engine results. People who own an Amazon Echo can also enable the “Mayo Clinic First Aid” skill in their Amazon Alexa app.

• A smart speaker can call a friend or relative on command.

• Some smart speakers have a “burglar deterrent” skill, which can play audio of voices and household pets to make it seem like a person is at home.

Smart speakers are also especially friendly to senior citizens. While setting up the system might take some assistance, the user interface includes little more than speaking a question directly into the microphone. Your senior parent won’t have to deal with screens, tech support, or too-small writing to access their speaker’s services. 

While smart speakers may help during some types of emergencies, they should never be a substitute for a medical alert system. Some smart speakers allow users to set up specific “skills,” which can allow a user to alert police or medical services to an at-home emergency. However, this typically requires set-up that may be inaccessible or out of reach for your aging parent. Additionally, this ability relies on a strong Internet connection, and if the speaker cannot pick up the audio of the call for help, it will be rendered useless. If you’re worried about at-home accidents and medical emergencies, a designated alert system is the only safe solution. 

Investing in a medical alert system is the only way to safeguard your elderly relative against emergencies. The devices from Alert1 are designed with senior needs and lifestyles in mind.

Smart speakers rely on a person’s proximity, vocal ability, and a strong Internet connection. The medical alert systems from Alert1 don’t rely on any of those variables. Your elderly relatively will be able to connect to emergency services no matter where they are, whether there is an Internet connection, and if they’re able to speak. They can summon emergency help with the push of a button.