Household appliances control device for the

elderly

On how to encourage universal usability in the home environment

Introduction Multi-modal interface for elderly and visually impaired

users Project description

Investigation of musical earcons Comparison of three modalities:

Audio Vs visual Vs audio+visual Use of musical earcons in a household appliance

control device aimed specially at elderly and visually impaired users.

 Interface

    

ImageSound

General users group

Elderly

Visually impaired

Deaf

 

Model of the proposed interface in relation with various users groups.

 

Multimodal User Interface

Domotics Domotics, the application of

information and communication technologies for more comfort and convenience in and around the home (Plesea,02)

Role of computers in everyday life (office, home, public spaces)

Elderly Increase ageing population Sensory loss:

Hearing loss Vision loss

Psychological and social gain

Musical Earcons Earcons: Non-verbal audio messages

used in the user-computer interface to provide information to the user about some computer object, operation or interaction.

Musical TunesSub7.wav

Motif2.wav

+Earcon

on

off

Appliance 1

Appliance 2

Appliance 3

Appliance 4

Appliance 5

Appliance 6

Motive 1Motive 2

 

Earcon composition structure

First component from the status information (mutually exclusive) and second component from the appliance/s component (mutually exclusive).

Interface Design Tools used in the design process:

Cognitive science Participatory design Iterative design

Design Process

Technical constrains

Human constraints

Users preferences

Users evaluation

Final Product

Human-machine interaction principles

Cognitive knowledge

Participatory design                

  

Visual interface

First set of iconspresented

Selection

Second set of icons presented

Modification

First icons interface prototype

Icons Design process

The first set of 6 icons was presented to rest home residents.From those 6 icons 3 were selected as the preferred ones among the interviews.The 3 selected items were presented to staff and students at JMU age ranging from 18 to 62 and to visually impaired users aged from 21 to 58.

Bath design process

Audio interface

First set earconsdesigned

RedesignSecond set earcons developed

First earconsInterface prototype

Modification

Earcons Design Process

The first set of earcons was developed and redesign by music expert.Second set of earcons is analysed and modified according to earcon design principles, and opinion given by visually impaired users.

Audio interface

Bath Off

Bath On

Bath Off

Bath On

Visual interface

Evaluation Speed of performance Errors:

Type 1:Wrong identification of appliance and status

Type 2:Wrong appliance identification Type 3:Wrong status identification

Subjective evaluation

Pre-test results Number of error

greater than expected; 71% incorrect

identifications

Table results Minimum Maximum Mean Std. Deviation

AUDIO 3.600 6.230 4.6920 1.125909

VISUAL 1.950 8.900 4.6720 2.695203

MULTIMOD 1.710 3.060 2.7140 .576394

Table 1. Test 2 Descriptive statistics, time in seconds.

Conclusions Welcome idea; both elderly and

visually impaired liked the idea. Learning time; long and hard Design needs improving

Future steps Test using different musical

instruments Test while users are engaged in

other activities

Why are we not advancing as expected?