Gestural Interfaces for Elderly Users: Help or Hindrance?

In this paper we investigate whether finger gesture input is a suitable input method, especially for older users (60+) with respect to age-related changes in sensory, cognitive and motor abilities. We present a study in which we compare a group of older users to a younger user group on a set of 42 different finger gestures on measures of speed and accuracy. The size and the complexity of the gestures varied systematically in order to And out how these factors interact with age on gesture performance. The results showed that older users are a little slower, but not necessarily less accurate than younger users, even on smaller screen sizes, and across different levels of gesture complexity. This indicates that gesture-based interaction could be a suitable input method for older adults. At least not a hindrance - maybe even a help.