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Usability of Touch-Panel Interfaces for Older Adults

Hiroshima City University, Hiroshima, Japan

Hirokazu Iwase

Kanagawa University, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan

The usability of a touch-panel interface was compared among young, middle-aged, and older adults. In addition, a performance model of a touch panel was developed so that pointing time could be predicted with higher accuracy. Moreover, the target location to which a participant could point most quickly was determined. The pointing time with a PC mouse was longer for the older adults than for the other age groups, whereas there were no significant differences in pointing time among the three age groups when a touch-panel interface was used. Pointing to the center of a square target led to the fastest pointing time among nine target locations. Based on these results, we offer some guidelines for the design of touch-panel interfaces and show implications for users of different age groups. Actual or potential applications of this research include designing touch-panel interfaces to make them accessible for older adults and predicting movement times when users operate such devices.

Human Factors: The Journal of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society, Vol. 47, No. 4, 767-776 (2005)
DOI: 10.1518/001872005775570952


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