Characterizing the interaction design in healthy smart home devices for the elderly

The global trend of increasing longevity has brought an enormous challenge to develop smart technologies to preserve independence and quality of life among the elderly in their own residences. By combining smart devices, occupants’ capabilities can be extended. The concept of ‘healthy smart home’ was introduced and numerous research projects have implemented a variety of prototypes and state-of-the-art of smart systems. However, there is little research on the elderly’s interactions and experiences in smart homes using systematic methods. The interactions of the elderly with digital devices, and further, the smart space, should be intuitive; otherwise the smart space would become an uncomfortable environment, thus displeasing the elderly. The focus of this paper is on user interfaces, especially those targeted to support the elderly’s healthy home life. Through a critical review on representative design principles for the elderly, specific criteria related to usability and user experience were defined and structuralized into a framework of user interfaces. For identifying the features of the ageing-friendly interfaces, the elderly’s reduced capabilities were considered, with a focus on assistive technologies. The proposed framework could be a basis for the perspectives of future research directions on user interfaces for the elderly in smart environments.