Usability Study of Electronic Product with Healthy Older Adults Based on Product Semantic

Effect of Aging on the Perception of Product Operations Through Semantic Clues

“…Thus, it appears that studies have lacked empirical evidence on how diverse users perceive semantic clues related to multiple operations, which could provide us with insight into why older adults could not perceive multiple operations of a physical control (Zhong et al 2020) and what product designers can do to deal with it. In our previous study (Zhong, Takawaki, and Harada 2022), we conducted a lab-controlled experiment to clarify the universality of affordances and informatives in indicating dual operations of physical controls, finding that users were able to perceive possible operations by interpreting desired shapes, text, and icons.…”

“…Nevertheless, users, especially older adults, might be confused if there is any semantic conflict between shapes, textual labels, and icons. In the case of the microwave oven in the previous usability study (Zhong et al 2020), the designer did nothing with the curved surface but only added the text "start" on the flat surface. Therefore, a likely reason that older adults could not use the control with dual operations well was that the necessary information-the icon and specific shape, such as a handle-was absent.…”

“…Recently, usability testing of a microwave oven was conducted with healthy older adults (Zhong et al 2020), which required users to select (by turning) and confirm (by pressing) items from a menu using a knob. The results revealed that though older adults could perceive press-ability well, they faced difficulty perceiving multiple operations simultaneously, press-ability and turnability, of a knob.…”

How Do Semantic Clues Affect People's Perceptions of Products with Multiple Meanings

“…Several interface types were considered to afford "select and execute", among which knobs are normal, particularly for home appliances with simple interfaces. However, it was observed that older adults had a difficult time understanding a knob with multiple operations, i.e., press-ability and turn-ability (Zhong et al, 2020). This issue prompted us to investigate how we could convey complex usage more effectively through the object.…”

“…However, it has been found that usability issues persist, and that older adults are often neglected in the design of electronic products (Taha et al, 2013;Czaja, 2019). Recently, the complexity of a microwave oven was revealed by comparing designers' conceptual models and users' mental models in a usability testing (Zhong et al, 2020). Such devices often require users to select (e.g., choose one item from the menu) and execute (e.g., confirm the selection) by appropriate operations from a number of possibilities.…”