Personal Electronic Response Systems (PERS)
Problem: A way to personalize electronic response systems for individuals who feel stigmatized by designs that unintentionally make them feel old, unattractive, or dependent, to improve user confidence and adoption rates.
Solution: Unique PERS accessories and “after-market” personalization options based on feedback from older adults.
Stanford University | Stanford, CA | 2012-2014
“Personal electronic response systems have utility and functionality, but they are totally ineffectual if people don’t want to use them.” -David Jaffe, ME Instructor, Perspectives in Assistive Technology, Stanford University
While I was a graduate student at Stanford, my grandmother was living alone, 3,000 miles away in Florida. When I asked why she didn’t use her emergency call device, she replied, “I’d rather wear jewelry around my neck than an ugly plastic call button.” That comment stayed with me.
Curious whether others felt the same, I began volunteering at Lytton Gardens, an assisted living community in Palo Alto. There, I learned that many older adults shared my grandmother’s resistance—not to the function of emergency call devices, but to their aesthetics and the stigma they carried.
In response, I focused my graduate work on the women’s market, reimagining emergency call devices to be more appealing, wearable like fashion jewelry or a Swatch® watch, which aligned more with users’ identities. This project emphasized user preference, accessibility, and customization as core drivers of usability.
