The HHL team writes to introduce the ATC community to the Healthy Home Laboratory, a new ATC testbed organization and a research hub for entrepreneurs and companies seeking technology to support healthy and independent living. Please join us in welcoming the HHL to the Collaborative, and read on to learn more.
What Is the Healthy Home Laboratory?
The Healthy Home Laboratory (HHL) is an interdisciplinary research program at the University of Pittsburgh that works with companies and researchers to develop scalable solutions that help older adults and people with disabilities age safely and independently at home. Our 105-year-old HHL house our research registry of older adults allow for the testing and commercialization of aging-in-place solutions in a setting that exemplifies the challenges of older housing stock.
As part of a world-class research institution, HHL has access to a large stakeholder network, a partner healthcare payer/provider system (UPMC), and extensive design, testing and clinical research capabilities.
The HHL Product Testing & Evaluation team assesses internally and externally developed technologies that promote independence and in place to determine product safety, efficacy and usability. As a testbed in the AARP Collaborative™, we partner with organizations of all sizes to perform usability evaluations, testing according to recognized standards for regulatory and reimbursement approval and supporting fundraising activities such as through the SBIR/STTR program.
Product Testing & Evaluation
The HHL Product Testing & Evaluation team offers a variety of services to our partners that include:
• Product Performance Testing & Benchmarking: When introducing a new product into the aging-in-place market, it is critical to determine how that product performs relative to a suite of existing products on the market. The HHL Product Testing & Evaluation team has a library of product performance data collected in accordance with international and national product testing standards for comparison and benchmarking.
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• Customer Discovery and User Need Assessments: We collaborate with an advisory committee of older adults and key stakeholders who are readily available for interviews and focus groups to uncover unmet needs related to aging in place.
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• Human Subjects Protocol Development: With our team of lawyers and research experts, we assist in writing, hosting and executing testing with older adults in a home lab setting.
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• Human Factors & Usability Evaluation: We have a panel of older adults and people with disabilities available to assess the usability and ergonomics of aging-in-place products.
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• Prototype Evaluation and Consultation: We consult and advise on the design, evaluation and implementation of novel aging-in-place technologies.
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HHL’s Unique Assets
In combination with an aging population, the Pittsburgh area has one of the highest concentrations of older homes in the nation. The HHL combines world-class research facilities with our HHL house, a dedicated community residence adjacent to the University of Pittsburgh campus. The HHL house provides a singular opportunity to study the deployment of technology in a realistic home setting that is representative of our nation’s aging housing stock.
Designing, implementing and sustaining solutions that will help older adults age in place is a complex endeavor that requires collaboration and expertise across many disciplines. Recognizing this need, HHL brings together a multidisciplinary team of designers, engineers, policy experts, clinicians and public health professionals to focus our collective energies on maximizing the impact of the home on health and well-being. Our work is accomplished in partnership with industry, government, non-profits and community stakeholders.
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