The danger of older adults falling through the gaps has been highlighted by research carried out by scientists at the University of Bath in the UK in collaboration with designers from the Bath-based charity Designability. A paper describing their work has received an honourable mention at this year's Human Computer Interaction Conference (CHI2021) - the world's largest conference of its kind.
The study concludes that adults aged 50+ are more likely to be successful at completing AR-prompted tasks (such as 'pick up the cube' followed by 'move the cube to the blue area') when the steps are shown by a 'ghosthand' demonstrating the action rather than the more commonly used arrow or some other visual aid.
According to the research team, many manufacturers of AR software are failing to factor the needs and preferences of older people into their application designs.
INCLUSIVITY
So why are older adults being left out of AR research? "Designers often find it difficult to know how non-designers and older people think if they're not big users of tech." explained Dr Jones.
"Another common problem is that designers often prioritise in a way that's not inclusive - they worry about the aesthetics of an application more than the ease of use for everyone. This is fine if you're a regular user of an application but it violates an essential principle of usability: you shouldn't have to read a manual to achieve what you're trying to achieve."
See the full story here: https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2021-06/uob-aci062221.php