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Assessing the usability and ergonomic considerations on communication technology for older Malaysians

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Abstract

The increasing elderly population and their specific needs have challenged communication technology developers regarding the usability of their devices. The aim of this study was to design a usability assessment method and assess the usability of communication devices in elderly Malaysians. This cross-sectional study was conducted on elderly Malaysians (aged 55–74 years old). A questionnaire was developed to assess the usability issues of mobile phones (MP), home telephones (HT) and Internet/E-mail (I/E) usage. A total of 303 elderly subjects (148 males and 155 females) from urban and rural areas in the state of Selangor participated in this study based on stratified random sampling. I usage was found to be 10 % while the usage of MP and HT were 73 and 50 %, respectively. The main concern of the participants was the “durability of the devices” followed by “ease of use” in MP and “ergonomic features” in HT. Factor analysis was carried out to identify the number of latent factors for MP and HT. The relative weights for the extracted factors were then evaluated by six experts using the GAHP technique. “Adjustability to user needs and abilities” for MP and “ease of operation” for HT was weighted most. A total of ten products including 6 MPs and 4 HTs were assessed by five elderly subjects. The usability index for each MP and HT family of products was then obtained by TOPSIS which was used to select the best product. None of the four common designs of HT complied with the usability factors indicating that the design of current HT products is unsuitable for the elderly, for communication. Moreover, this study revealed that the low usage of I/E might be due to inappropriate design and lack of knowledge. However, the design of communication products should be based on the identified weighted factors to provide more usable products for the elderly population.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University Putra Malaysia, 43400, Serdang, Selangor Darul Ehsan, Malaysia

    Hassan Zareei, Rosnah Mohd. Yusuff & Sapuan Mohd. Salit

  2. Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Institute of Gerontology, University Putra Malaysia, 43400, Serdang, Selangor Darul Ehsan, Malaysia

    Rosnah Mohd. Yusuff & Rizal Hussain Mohd.

  3. Department of Social and Development Sciences, Faculty of Human Ecology, University Putra Malaysia, 43400, Serdang, Selangor Darul Ehsan, Malaysia

    Sharifah Norazizan S.A.R.

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  1. Hassan Zareei
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  2. Rosnah Mohd. Yusuff
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  3. Sapuan Mohd. Salit
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  4. Sharifah Norazizan S.A.R.
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  5. Rizal Hussain Mohd.
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Correspondence to Rosnah Mohd. Yusuff.

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Zareei, H., Mohd. Yusuff, R., Mohd. Salit, S. et al. Assessing the usability and ergonomic considerations on communication technology for older Malaysians. Univ Access Inf Soc 16, 425–433 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10209-016-0470-3

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