Older people affected by memory loss have much to gain from augmented reality technology, yet a study from the UK exploring the use of augmented reality to support older adults at home finds the user interface is sometimes confusing for those aged 50-plus.

The danger of older adults falling through the gaps has been highlighted by research carried out by scientists at the University of Bath 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.

«We can’t expect people to benefit from AR technology if they can’t follow the prompts shown to them,» said Dr Christof Lutteroth from the University’s Department of Computer Science.

Thomas Williams, the Doctor of Engineering student (funded by the EPSRC) who conducted the research from the university’s Centre for Digital Entertainment (CDE), said: «A lot more thought needs to go into understanding what older adults need from augmented reality, so users in this group understand the prompts they’re given straight away.»

He added: «AR technology has great potential for improving the lives of older adults but most AR designers give little or no thought to the kind of augmentations they use for this population.»

Story Source: Materials provided by University of Bath. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.