Alternative Interfaces for Assisting Elderly Users Thomas R
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Exploring tangible interaction: Alternative interfaces for assisting elderly users Thomas R. Iversen Master’s Thesis Autumn 2015 Abstract The use of tangible user interfaces in assisting elderly users is still a fairly unexplored domain. While the current research provides some solutions to this domain, the research are still limited. The elderly population is growing, as a result of increased living standard and better health services. This causes a high demand of nursing homes, which will cause more elderly people to be living in their own homes. This thesis investigates how tangible user interfaces (TUI) can make things easier compared to the elderly people’s current living situation. Domain-knowledge of common age impairments and details of TUIs have been collected through literature review, to propose a framework for designing TUIs for elderly people, based on previous frameworks on TUIs and common age impairments discovered. Further domain-knowledge has been collected through focus groups, interviews, workshops and observations. Four prototypes featuring TUIs and designed to compensate for some challenges of aging have been developed. This includes T-Radio; a radio controlled by tangible blocks, Payless; an alternative way to pay for food and beverages in a canteen using only a RFID key card, Natural Charge; seven different wireless chargers to investigate the best configuration, and LightUp; a light bulb that changes the color intensity depending on environmental temperature. The prototypes were taken through a formative usability test with experts from the HCI community, revealing some problems of the prototypes before a few modifications were done. Then summative usability tests with elderly participants were conducted at two dif- ferent research sites; a local care home and a senior center. The results were analyzed using the proposed framework and led to three problem areas that were investigated, before the implications for design were presented. The results show that there are great potential in TUIs to compensate for age impairments and make things easier than today. Keywords: tangible user interface, design, elderly users, welfare technology, framework, prototyping, usability testing i ii Acknowledgment This thesis is submitted to the University of Oslo, Department of Informatics, and I would like to thank some people for assisting me in completing the thesis. First, I would like to thank my supervisor, Suhas G. Joshi, for his excellent guidance and encouragement, and for always pushing me in the right direction. I also want to thank the employees and residents at the local care home, and the employees and members at the senior center, where I have done my field studies. I want to thank the employees for allowing me to conduct my study and helping with the recruitment of partic- ipants, and I want to thank the residents and members for participating in usability tests. Furthermore, I want to thank fellow students at IFI for their contribution to pleasant so- cial times throughout the period and for their participation in usability tests. Additionally, thanks to my family and friends for their support. Thomas R. Iversen University of Oslo August 2015 iii iv Table of contents Abstract i Acknowledgment iii List of Figures xi List of Tables xiii List of acronyms and abbreviations xv 1 Introduction 1 1.1 Motivation ....................................... 1 1.2 Research question ................................... 2 1.3 Research context .................................... 2 1.4 Chapter overview ................................... 3 2 Background 5 2.1 Existing consumer welfare products ........................ 5 2.2 Related work ...................................... 6 2.2.1 Presentation of related works ........................ 6 2.2.2 Findings from related work ......................... 8 3 The aging population - an overview of the most common age impairments 13 3.1 What is old? ...................................... 13 3.2 Age impairments ................................... 13 3.2.1 Visual impairment .............................. 14 3.2.2 Hearing loss .................................. 14 3.2.3 Cognitive changes .............................. 15 3.2.4 Physical abilities ............................... 17 v 3.2.5 Anxiety towards technology ........................ 18 4 Tangible user interface and its suitability for elderly users 21 4.1 The user interface ................................... 21 4.1.1 Examples of tangible user interfaces .................... 22 4.2 Applying TUI in the context of elderly users ................... 22 4.2.1 Framework by Cho et al. (2013) ....................... 23 4.3 Framework for tangible user interface in the context of elderly users ..... 24 4.3.1 Tangible manipulation ............................ 25 4.3.2 Spatial interaction .............................. 26 4.3.3 Embodied facilitation ............................ 28 4.3.4 Expressive representation .......................... 29 4.4 Proposed framework ................................. 30 5 Methods 33 5.1 My philosophical approach ............................. 33 5.2 The design process .................................. 35 5.3 Context ......................................... 37 5.3.1 Research context 1 .............................. 37 5.3.2 Research context 2 .............................. 38 5.3.3 Exploratory data gathering ......................... 39 5.4 Participants ...................................... 40 5.4.1 Expert users .................................. 41 5.4.2 Elderly people ................................. 41 5.5 Data gathering ..................................... 42 5.5.1 Interview ................................... 43 5.5.2 Observation .................................. 44 5.6 Design methods .................................... 45 5.6.1 Prototyping .................................. 45 5.6.2 Usability testing ................................ 46 5.7 Other methods ..................................... 48 5.7.1 Literature review ............................... 48 5.7.2 Workshop ................................... 48 5.7.3 Conference paper ............................... 49 5.8 Data processing .................................... 50 vi 5.9 Ethical considerations ................................ 50 6 T-Radio 51 6.1 The prototype ..................................... 51 6.1.1 Idea ....................................... 51 6.1.2 Technology .................................. 52 6.1.3 First Prototype ................................ 53 6.1.4 Second Prototype ............................... 53 6.1.5 Changes after usability testing ....................... 54 6.1.6 Compensation of age impairments ..................... 55 6.2 Formative usability tests ............................... 55 6.3 Summative usability test ............................... 58 6.4 Analysis ........................................ 60 6.4.1 Mistakes .................................... 60 6.4.2 Time on task .................................. 60 6.4.3 Statistical analysis .............................. 61 6.4.4 Comparing to another project ........................ 62 7 Payless 63 7.1 The prototype ..................................... 63 7.1.1 Idea ....................................... 63 7.1.2 Technology .................................. 64 7.1.3 First Prototype ................................ 64 7.1.4 Changes after usability testing ....................... 65 7.1.5 Compensation of age impairments ..................... 66 7.2 Formative usability test ................................ 66 7.3 Summative usability test ............................... 69 7.4 Analysis ........................................ 72 7.4.1 Scanning .................................... 72 7.4.2 Screen and safety ............................... 72 8 Natural Charge 73 8.1 The prototype ..................................... 73 8.1.1 Idea ....................................... 73 8.1.2 Technology .................................. 74 8.1.3 Compensation of age impairments ..................... 75 vii 8.2 Formative usability test ................................ 75 8.3 Summative usability test ............................... 77 8.4 Analysis ........................................ 80 8.4.1 Ease of use ................................... 80 8.4.2 Average number of trials .......................... 81 8.4.3 Using the framwork ............................. 81 9 LightUp 83 9.1 The prototype ..................................... 83 9.1.1 Idea ....................................... 83 9.1.2 Technology .................................. 84 9.1.3 The first prototype .............................. 84 9.1.4 The second prototype ............................ 86 9.1.5 Changes after usability testing ....................... 87 9.1.6 Compensation of age impairments ..................... 87 9.2 Formative usability test ................................ 88 9.3 Summative usability test ............................... 90 9.4 Analysis ........................................ 92 10 Analysis 93 10.1 Compensating for age related challenges ..................... 93 10.2 Understanding the interaction ............................ 94 10.3 Comprehending the information presented .................... 96 10.4 Summary ........................................ 97 11 Discussion 99 11.1 Finding a framework for designing tangible user interface suitable for elderly people ......................................... 99 11.2 How the prototypes assists elderly users ...................... 100 11.3 Tangible user interfaces