Entry, 2021

Aging in place—remaining in one’s home—is a cherished goal in late life. Yet, we know very little about the features of older adults’ homes. This image and its companion (see above link) illustrate data obtained from photographs of over 300 older adults’ living spaces. We performed a Fourier transformation on these photographs to find their spatial frequency content and connect this frequency analysis to the issues of environmental gerontology.

The Fourier spectrum on this image (overlaying the image of the living space of a typical older adult who is healthy, fit and active) exhibits the sharp diagonal rays that are the result of the orderliness of that environment. The spectrum and image on the companion image (see above link) are typical of older adults experiencing declines in health and physical disability, characterized by clutter and lack of open space, and the spectrum differs strongly from that of the orderly image.

These data contribute to understanding how physical declines may precipitate deterioration in quality of home living environment and an eventual move to institutional care.

Credit:
Anthony Tang
Biochemistry Undergraduate Student

Shiyang Zhang
Human Development and Family Sciences Graduate Student

Dr. John Yeazell
Assistant Professor of Instruction, Department of Physics