The growing number of Alzheimer’s sufferers, which is expected to more than triple from the current four million by 2050, may also spur wider adoption of technologies like motion sensors to alert others to deviations in routine, trackers to assure medications are taken and emergency response buttons.

Technology systems to underpin living independently, or what some call “aging in place,” are still years from being rolled out in a big way, awaiting adequate financing for research and other incentives, like coverage by insurance companies, according to Mr. Nobel’s study, which was released in March by the Center for Aging Services Technologies, a program of the American Association of Homes and Services for the Aging.

But projects are under way around the country to test high-tech gadgets for home use, including wireless sensors and devices to regulate temperature, lights and appliances, and sophisticated medical monitors. And some care providers have begun to equip clients with devices that fit their needs.

NewCourtland Elder Services, a care provider for some 2,000 people in Philadelphia, started a yearlong pilot in 2006 that equipped 33 patients living on their own with remote sensors that tracked changes in their health or living patterns that required early medical intervention, said Kim Brooks, the vice president for housing and services at NewCourtland.

One of the patients is Cleora Coley, 77, a retired pharmacy technician, who is in a wheelchair after losing a leg to diabetes. Two years ago, Ms. Coley moved to a living complex for the elderly because she could not maneuver the stairs in her family home.

In her apartment, she checks her blood pressure with a cuff that automatically sends the reading to a monitoring center, which notifies her and her doctor of any change. Sensors placed in each room keep track of her movements, and she has a button to summon assistance, which she used in April when she fell.

“I’m alone but I know I’m not all by myself,” Mrs. Coley said, adding, “And I really like my independence.”