Amazon Unveils Alexa Features to Help Seniors, Caregivers

Amazon has unveiled two features for the Alexa Together function on its Alexa devices designed to help older people and their caregivers.

In an announcement posted on its website Wednesday (May 11), Amazon said its new Circle of Support feature would let aging people use an Alexa Together feature to assign up to 10 other people who can pitch in and help out.

Both the aging person and their caregiver can add other people as caregivers, such as siblings, cousins, friends or close neighbors who can stop by to visit in person.

“Circle members get peace of mind through the daily alerts and quick check-ins through the activity feed,” Amazon said. “Only the primary caregiver can use Remote Assist, if the aging loved one chooses to enable that feature. Both the aging loved one and the primary caregiver can remove any circle member at any time in the Alexa app.”

Amazon is also planning to soon allow users to use Alexa’s Remote Assist function to establish Alexa Routines, a program designed to make users’ days easier and more productive by grouping actions together.

The company gave an example of a caregiver setting a personalized routine for her father: turning off his alarm clock in the morning, switching on his bedroom light, getting a weather report followed by the day’s news. Amazon said Alexa Routines could handle the tasks automatically without the father needing to ask Alexa to do each thing separately.

Amazon said Circle of Support is available now to all Alexa Together customers.

See also: Amazon Pairs Fire Cube, Starkey Hearing Aids

Last month, Amazon said it was working with hearing aid maker Starkey to help customers using its Fire TV Cube streaming device better hear their programming.

Amazon Director of Accessibility for Devices Peter Korn said connecting a streaming box to a hearing aid was difficult, as people tend to sit farther away from their TV than other devices.

However, many people with hearing loss say being able to understand the speakers on TV is one of their most sought-after lifestyle improvements, after being able to hear conversations better, Korn noted.