Articles from:August 2026

• How smart speakers can help older adults age at home

  Wednesday, August 19, 2026 | By Brock University

  MEDIA RELEASE — Aug. 19, 2026 — R0069

  Contrary to popular belief, older adults are ready, willing and able to adopt new technologies that improve their sense of well-being, says Alisa Grigorovich.

  “There’s a lot of negative assumptions that older people can’t, or don’t want to, learn new technologies, but our research definitely demonstrates that that’s not true,” says the Brock University Associate Professor of Recreation and Leisure Studies.

  Her international research team is conducting a long-running study to better understand how commercially available voice-activated technologies can support people who choose to age in their homes by observing whether and why older adults integrate this technology into their daily life.

  Being able to control home devices or search the internet using conversational technologies like smart speakers or voice assistants can be particularly helpful for older adults who develop vision or dexterity challenges as they age, Grigorovich says.

  “We think voice technologies can support older adults’ daily activities, leisure interests, social connections and other goals they have,” she says. “But there’s not a lot of research yet that explores the value of these technologies in comparison to others already in use and how technologies can be redesigned or improved to fit older people’s real lives.”

  The first phase of the three-part study focused on the Google Nest Hub, a smart device that has a built-in Google Assistant, a touchscreen display and a speaker.

  A group of 22 participants aged 55 and older from across Ontario were trained to use the devices in their homes for a six-month period. At various points during that time, they filled out surveys and were interviewed by researchers.

  The goal was to understand how older adults used the voice assistant, the challenges they experienced, the resources that supported their use of the tool and the value these technologies added to their lives.

  “The participants were all very keen, very interested and wanted to learn,” Grigorovich says. “They appreciated the opportunity to try out this new technology and have support if they needed it. Most of them did not require much technical support.”

  She and her team described their preliminary phase one results during a presentation at the International Society for Gerontology’s World Conference in Vancouver earlier this year. Their findings include:

  • Participants used the device mostly for reminders and timers, music and other entertainment, and weather forecasts.
  • Most participants used the device several times every day.
  • Common challenges included difficulties with speech recognition, such as the voice assistant not understanding the user or not responding as they want it to.
  • Participants often learned by trial and error and tended to focus on their favourite activity.

  The second phase of the research, which the team is working on now, involves an online survey of 600 older adults across Canada using different voice assistants on various devices. The survey will explore how often participants use these tools, what they use the tools for and the impact these technologies have on participants’ well-being and goals for aging in place.

  In the final phase, the researchers will work with a group of participants to co-design supports to help older adults living at home use voice assistants to enhance their health and well-being.

  Funding this work is the Government of Canada’s Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council.

  Grigorovich’s international research team includes experts in gerontology and aging, human-computer interaction, sociology, psychology and information systems. They are based at the University of Bern in Switzerland, McMaster University, Nova Scotia Health, Trent University, University of Prince Edward Island, University of the West of Scotland, University of Toronto, University of Waterloo, Western University and Wilfred Laurier University.

  For more information or for assistance arranging interviews: 

  *Maryanne St. Denis, Associate Director, Strategic Communications, Brock University, [email protected] or 905-246-0256

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  Categories: Media releases

• 20 years of research shows how climate change has vastly impacted Canada’s North

  Tuesday, August 18, 2026 | By Brock University

  MEDIA RELEASE — Aug. 18, 2026 — R0068

  Members of the Vuntut Gwitchin First Nation have witnessed many changes unfold across the far reaches of their traditional territory in northern Yukon.

  Tundra grasslands are being replaced by shrubs. Permafrost is thawing at an accelerated rate. Lakes are draining more than in the past. River and lake shorelines are eroding more quickly. And fires are burning within and beyond the boreal treeline.

  Officials from the community have been working with Brock University Professor of Geography and Tourism Studies Kevin Turner’s research lab and Parks Canada staff to track measurements that quantify these changes in Van Tat, commonly known as Old Crow Flats, a 15,000-square-kilometre watershed north of the Arctic Circle and south of the Beaufort Sea.

  For the past 20 years, the team has documented rainfall patterns, lake sizes, landslides known as “thaw slumps” along river shorelines, the presence of carbon in waterways, the rate of permafrost thawing and changes to the vegetation cover, among other things. In addition to assessing the magnitude and frequency of these events, the team is also exploring how they influence downstream lakes and rivers.

  “Over two decades, there have been many applications for this valuable data set, which provides a very strong baseline of information,” says Turner, who is cross appointed with the Department of Earth Sciences.

  From this long-running work, Turner and his collaborators have published a number of research studies documenting drastic changes to the landscape, including lake drainages, fires, shrub growth, thaw slumps and increased lake drainage events with a higher proportion of annual rainfall.

  The data shows several notable trends.

  Higher temperatures have led to extended thaw seasons allowing for an accelerated rate of permafrost thaw that hinders landscape stability. Soil and other materials from these landslides are added to the water, resulting in changes to river structure and water chemistry, Turner says.

  The thawing permafrost also releases carbon that had accumulated and been trapped in the frozen ground over millennia, contributing to climate change feedback — a process that promotes continued or intensified climate change. This led to Turner finding a woolly mammoth bone during one of his research trips.

  “Northern regions experience amplified responses to climate change, and our data provides important insight regarding how these important landscapes are responding,” he says. “The data also serves as a valuable reference when evaluating whether the results of future surveys and samples are similar or if landscape changes are continuing to accelerate.”

  This June, Turner joined PhD in Biological Sciences candidate Quinn Nixon-Goebel and collaborators from Vuntut National Parks and the Vuntut Gwitchin First Nation to collect samples from lakes, rivers and plants.

  Nixon-Goebel’s research is focused on identifying spatial patterns in vegetation change across Old Crow Flats and the greater Porcupine River Watershed. Her analysis will provide valuable information about the vegetation species, size, age and timing of their growth as it relates to trends identified in 40 years of satellite information, Turner says.

  The team also gathered sediment cores from lake bottoms to document changes in the area’s vegetation over the past few centuries.

  Analysis of water chemistry from lake and river samples will provide insight on how upstream changes, detected using satellite remote sensing, have influenced aquatic environments, Turner says.

  Turner’s research is funded by a 2016 and a 2023 grant from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council, the Canada Foundation for Innovation, Polar Knowledge Canada and Brock University’s Indigenous Research Grant.

  For more information or for assistance arranging interviews:

  *Maryanne St. Denis, Associate Director, Strategic Communications, Brock University, [email protected] or 905-246-0256

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  Categories: Media releases