ENHANCING COMPUTER INTEREACTION FOR OLDER ADULTS

University Of Miami Coral Gables, Coral Gables FL

Investigators

Linked publications & trials

Abstract

Three sub-projects with how existing and emerging technologies can aid older adults in the work force to maintain high productivity and those who retire to remain independent and to function on a high level despite age- related declines in cognitive, perceptual, and psychomotor capabilities. The first project deals with determining the relative utility and cost effective- ness of standard (mouse) and non-standard (lightpen, speech recognition, gaze selection) computer pointing devices fro adults in pure pointing and in mixed pointing and data entry tasks. The second project focuses on assessing the utility of speech recognition software for younger, middle- aged, and older adults in light of how voice characteristics of older adults (particularly age-related increases in variability) affect performance with this software. These studies investigate training time, accuracy levels, and acceptability of this software for navigation and data entry tasks. The third project focuses on the effectiveness of desktop videoconferencing for a variety of tasks. It investigates the utility of such systems at different transmission bandwidths and image sizes and also compares the relative effectiveness of "voice over Internet Protocol" to telephone communication. Component tasks investigated include conveying emotional state, conveying phonetic information, and collaborating on way-finding tasks. These projects will provide human factors guidelines for how to design usable and useful interfaces for older adults, and how to train their effective use.