  Dementia-related agitation causes high stress for dementia caregivers (CG)
and to persons with dementia (PWD). Current clinical research suggests that
dementia agitation can be affected or triggered by the ambient environment and
other contextual factors. In this study, we evaluate this hypothesis through an
analysis of ambient environmental data collected with a remote sensing system
deployed in the homes of PWDs and their CGs. Furthermore, we determine if the
occurrence of dementia-related agitation can be predicted from ambient
environmental data, creating the potential for agitation to be prevented via
the environmental alteration. These collected data are used to learn the
environmental patterns using a predictive model approach. The agitation labels,
used in model training, are provided by the CGs living with the PWDs. The
results of the agitation prediction model evaluation suggest that ambient
environment can be used as predictors for upcoming dementia-related agitation.
We also observed that environmental triggers for agitation are PWD-specific.
Future opportunities and techniques used to understand triggers for dementia
agitation are also discussed.

Signal Processing