1. A device for characterizing potential fall event data, comprising: a processor configured for: loading a first acceleration magnitude threshold value from a memory; loading a second acceleration magnitude threshold value from a memory; sampling acceleration data received from an acceleration measuring means of the device; storing the sampled acceleration data into a memory capable of storing a predetermined number of sampled acceleration data samples; determining a calculated magnitude acceleration value from the acceleration data for each sample; comparing the calculated magnitude acceleration value to the first acceleration magnitude threshold value for each sample; comparing the calculated magnitude acceleration value to the second acceleration magnitude threshold value if the calculated magnitude acceleration value does not exceed the first acceleration magnitude threshold value, wherein the first acceleration magnitude threshold value corresponds to a first characteristic segmentation of fall event data sets and the second acceleration magnitude threshold value corresponds to a second characteristic segmentation of fall event data sets; and outputting a signal indicating that a fall may have occurred if the calculated magnitude exceeds either the first or the second acceleration magnitude threshold values.