Every day, 5,000 Americans turn 75 and many of those aging seniors are living alone and not sharing in the rising use of social media by their children and grandchildren.
A Chattanooga-based phone and tablet maker is launching a new product to help bridge the generational digital divide while also helping to share useful alerts and wellness information for both seniors and their caregivers.
Clarity, a division of Plantronics Inc., unveiled its new ClarityLife at the Consumer Electronics Show this week in Las Vegas. The new communications platform will be delivered through Clarity's Ensemble home phone, which Clarity debuted two years ago at a previous CES event.
Carsten Trads, president of Clarity, said the new device and platform is designed to help millions of Americans caring for aging parents or grandparents to more easily share and get information. The display phone, which Clarity is selling for $399, provides not only amplified sound and enlarged keyboards but also is equipped through the ClarityLife platform to display and sound messages, alerts and photographs.
The Web-based platform, priced at $49 per month for regular service and $59 a month for unlimited service, will allow individuals to receive email, text messages, photos and videos on Ensemble's 8-inch tablet display. ClarityLife keeps family members and caregivers in the know on the senior's daily activities through simple check-ins, medication reminders or appointment notifications.
"We are redefining the home phone for older seniors -- transforming a device they are familiar with into a vital social and wellness platform," said Trads. "This is a smart product for seniors, but it is equally life-changing for entire families."
Trads said many seniors, such as his 88-year-old mother who lives in Coppenhagen, Denmark, don't use Facebook, Instagram and other social media like their children or grandchildren. But they are eager to see the photos being posted on social media.
The Clarity device also allows messages, reminders and alerts to be sent or programmed into the device to help seniors remember to take their medicine or simply recall someone's birthday. The device is also programmed to be able to have more interactive messages with their family and friends, even when they are less mobile or have sight or hearing problems.
The equipment and software is designed to be as easy to operate as possible for seniors and may be controlled remotely by managers -- typically children of the seniors -- and receive photos and messages from contributors in the network -- often grandchildren.
"Very few companies have found a way to take the most modern technology and turn around and make it focused on the seniors and their needs," Trads said. "That's what we have done with this device and we think it can help more seniors to live independently but still be in better contact with their family and friends."
ClarityLife will begin a pilot program next month in West Virginia, where telephone and Internet provider Frontier Communications is offering the service for $49 a month. Trads said the new equipment and platform are ready to go and can be purchased from Clarity onine (www.clarityproducts.com).
Clarity will market the phone through Internet Service Providers, and has been in discussion withe AT&T, Verizon and others.
Trads said the new platform is one of the most significant for the company, which dates back 1969 when a former BellSouth engineer in Ringgold, Ga., Wesley Walker, started the company making phones. Clarity began manufacturing amplified telephone handsets for public telephones in 1975. The company's next major achievement came in 1977, with the patenting of its Diode Bridge -- technology necessary for amplified handsets. Clarity then developed the worlds smallest, lightest test set in 1984.
Clarity in 1986 was acquired by Plantronics Inc., a leading provider of communication headsets, and the company has since pioneered a number of amplified phones and related equipment.
Contact Dave Flessner at dflessner@timesfreepress.com or at 757-6340.