澳洲研製電子內褲 監測老年人尿失禁

An Australian company on Friday announced the rollout of what it said were the world's first electronic underpants, saying its product was able to send text messages if the wearer became incontinent.

Designed for the elderly and infirm, the SIMsystem will be used in homes for the aged across New South Wales state to monitor incontinence after successful trials in Victoria, the company Simavita said.

"Incontinence management is a key area in which innovative technologies can benefit aged care," said chief executive Philippa Lewis.

"We developed SIMsystem to provide greater comfort and dignity to the elderly while aiming to significantly lower costs for aged care facilities."

Simavita said its underpants have a disposable element similar to a regular incontinence pad and include a detachable transmitter that relays readings from the pad's sensor strip over a wireless network to a central computer.

Alerts are sent via text message or over the institution's paging system.

More than 90 percent of Australians living in elderly care facilities are believed to suffer from incontinence - a problem that currently requires staff to carry out frequent manual checks throughout the day.

澳大利亞一家公司上週五宣佈，該公司研製出世界上首款電子內褲，並介紹這款電子內褲在使用者失禁時能及時發送文字信息。

Simavita公司稱，這款“SIM系統內褲”專爲年老體弱者設計，在維多利亞州的產品測試成功後將在新南威爾士州的養老院推廣使用，用於老年人的失禁監控。

該公司首席執行官菲利帕•劉易斯說：“失禁處理是創新技術惠及老年護理的一個重要領域。”

“我們研發SIM系統內褲是爲了爲老年人提供舒適和尊嚴，同時使老年護理機構的成本得到大幅度降低。”

Simavita公司稱，這款電子內褲內置有類似於普通失禁墊的一次性元件。此外，內褲中還裝有一個可拆卸的傳送器，可將從失禁墊傳感帶上讀取的信息通過無線網絡發送至中央計算機。

失禁警報通過文字信息或養老院的傳呼系統發送出去。

據悉，生活在澳大利亞養老院中超過90%的老年人受到失禁的困擾，目前仍需要護理人員每天不停地進行手動檢查。

Vocabulary:

rollout: the first public showing of an aircraft（首次展示）

incontinent: unable to restrain natural discharges or evacuations of urine or feces（失禁的）

home: an institution for the homeless, sick, etc.（養老院）

paging system: 尋呼系統，傳呼系統