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Researchers from Virginia Commonwealth University and Emory University deployed HomePal, a home sensor system, in the homes of 70 adults aged 65 and older for three months. The project is testing whether patterns in movement, sleep, activities and phone use correspond with loneliness assessments; the system has not been shown to diagnose loneliness.
Researchers from Virginia Commonwealth University and Emory University have tested a home sensor system called HomePal in the homes of 70 adults aged 65 and older, collecting everyday behavior data to study whether it may signal loneliness. The project is still evaluating the system: it is intended to flag patterns for possible follow-up, not to diagnose loneliness, which matters because the condition can be difficult for caregivers and clinicians to recognize.
The prototype was installed for three months in the homes of independently living older adults in metro Atlanta. It uses a combination of commercially available and custom sensors to measure movement, daily activities, sleep and phone use. The researchers also plan to examine smart-speaker data. The study describing the system was published in the journal Assessment.
The team is comparing sensor data with biweekly loneliness assessments completed by participants. Researchers are using an AI model to examine which behavioral patterns are most closely associated with reported loneliness and whether the patterns align with the assessment results. The study report describes the system’s development and data collection; the supplied report does not provide a final accuracy result.
HomePal’s sensors include motion and door sensors, television smart plugs that estimate screen time, and sensors that track sleep. Phone-call patterns are intended to provide information about social connectedness. The team says smart speakers may also help assess speech patterns. These measures are indirect: a change in sleep or time spent watching television, for example, does not by itself establish that someone is lonely.
A Possible Earlier Signal at Home
Loneliness can be hard to identify during a clinic visit, particularly when an older adult does not raise it directly. A system that tracks changes in daily routines could, if later research supports it, give families or care teams another reason to check in. That could add information between appointments, rather than relying only on what is observed during a brief visit or shared in a survey.
The potential value is in supporting follow-up, not replacing conversation or clinical judgment. HomePal’s readings are behavior patterns, not direct measures of how a person feels. A drop in calls or a change in sleep could have many explanations, so any alert would need to be interpreted with the older adult and their caregivers.
The approach also puts monitoring inside a private living space. Any future use would have to address consent, data access and privacy, as well as whether alerts are useful and accurate enough to justify collecting information about daily life.
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How HomePal Links Sensors and Surveys
The researchers’ approach combines passive sensor readings with participants’ own reports of loneliness. The sensing system records selected aspects of activity at home, while the biweekly assessments provide a comparison based on how participants report feeling. The research team is studying whether the two sources of information correspond over time.
Lead author Mohamed Kamel, a computer science Ph.D. student at VCU, described the goal as examining whether “everyday behavior at home can give early signs that an older adult may be experiencing loneliness or social withdrawal.” That describes the research question, not a finding that the sensors can reliably identify either condition.
The project brings together researchers in computer science and nursing. Nursing researcher Chung led the loneliness assessments, while the team develops and tests models against those reports. The researchers say a future commercial version might be installed like a home security system and provide a daily score or trend, but that product is a longer-term aim, not the system’s current demonstrated capability.
“The main idea is to see whether everyday behavior at home can give early signs that an older adult may be experiencing loneliness or social withdrawal.”
— Mohamed Kamel, study lead author and VCU computer science Ph.D. student
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Accuracy and Privacy Still Under Study
How accurately HomePal can identify loneliness remains unknown. The researchers are still analyzing the data and comparing model results with participants’ assessments. The report supplied for this article does not give sensitivity, error rates, or evidence that the system improves care or health outcomes.
It is also unclear which sensor combinations would be needed for a useful system, how often false alarms might occur, or how caregivers should respond to a flagged change. Behavioral signals can have explanations unrelated to loneliness, and the assessments themselves are the comparison method in this research, not proof that a sensor score captures a person’s full experience.
Privacy protections are still being considered. The team says HomePal could be adapted to use sensors that process and store information on a local network, and that data-sharing choices could be limited. The report does not specify a finalized commercial design, retention policy, or consent process for a product in routine use.
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Researchers Continue Model Testing
The team plans to continue analyzing the collected data, developing AI models and adjusting the sensors as it looks for patterns associated with reported loneliness. A key next step is to evaluate how closely model outputs match the participants’ biweekly assessment results.
Further validation would be needed before HomePal could be treated as a dependable tool for caregivers or offered as a commercial monitoring system. The researchers have described a possible future daily loneliness score or trend, but the source does not give a launch date or say that a product is ready for use. For now, the study remains an investigation into whether home-based behavior data can prompt a useful follow-up.
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Key Questions
Can HomePal diagnose loneliness?
No. The researchers say the system is intended to identify behavior patterns that may merit follow-up. Its accuracy is still being tested against loneliness assessments.
What does the system monitor?
HomePal uses sensors to track selected measures such as movement, sleep, television use and phone-call patterns. The researchers also describe smart speakers as a possible source of speech-pattern data.
How many people took part in the home deployment?
The prototype was deployed for three months in the homes of 70 adults aged 65 and older living independently in metro Atlanta.
How are researchers checking whether the signals relate to loneliness?
They are comparing sensor data with biweekly loneliness assessments completed by participants and using an AI model to analyze how the data correspond.
When will HomePal be available to caregivers?
No release date is given. The researchers describe a commercial system as a future goal and say they are still analyzing data and developing the models.
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