Volunteers to live in isolation for a week

A GROUP of people will become prisoners in their own homes with no human contact for a week as part of an unusual social experiment.

Each will live the life of an isolated older person with only the television for company and vision-impairing glasses to simulate the effects of physical ageing.

The ten participants will record their feelings in a video diary and on one-way Twitter accounts.

Their experiences will be analysed by experts who specialise in the issues facing older people for the charity Friends of the Elderly.

According to Friends of the Elderly, more than one million older people in the UK live "isolated and lonely" lives.