Ergonomic design of computerized devices for elderly persons - The challenge of matching antagonistic requirements

Aging implies a general decrease of physical and mental fitness, which, however, largely depends on training. Additionally, individual impairments occur more frequently with age. Three studies show that most elderly people struggle with the application of modern technologies, although physical communication is only slowed but not impaired and handling characteristics do not significantly differ from younger persons. Most usability problems originate from a lack of understanding the complex interaction of menu control. Former education and missing experience then tend to augment usability problems with time. Using the example of a mobile phone prototype it is shown that, despite the complex and inconsistent needs of elderly, the usability obstacles can be vanquished by considering the hierarchy of cause-effect relationships for design.