Evaluating the specifications of built-in accelerometers in smartphones on fall detection performance

In the daily life of the elderly, falling is a common accident and results in severe consequences. Hence, considerable research has been conducted on fall detection for the elderly. Smartphones, which have motion sensors and transmitting modules, have been applied as fall detectors. However, the performance of human activity recognition using various smartphones is usually lower than those using a dedicated smartphone due to different specification values of built-in smartphone accelerometers. This presents a challenge in the development of technology for using smartphones as fall detectors. In this study, we compared the specifications of built-in accelerometers which are essential for fall detection in four smartphones from different manufacturers. To test fall detection performance on various smartphones, 10 young healthy volunteers were included to wear the four smartphones and perform daily activities and fall event trials. Then the accuracies of a fall detection algorithm performed on four d...