Researchers of the Human-Computer Interaction team at Fraunhofer AICOS are now working in the study of the best font sizes for smartphone interfaces for seniors. They aim to create guidelines for future work that will support the design and creation of many user interfaces taking into account senior users.
Once again, we have the help of the senior volunteers of Colaborar who are testing many font sizes by reading texts on the smartphone.
Participants are asked to read the texts written in different font sizes and on different backgrounds. You can easily meet us at the centers over the next days!
From 20th to 26th of April, Fraunhofer AICOS was at Semana das Ciências Aplicadas à Saúde, at Dolce Vita, in Coimbra. Using the application for smartphone named FCC – Fall Risk Assessment, we did several fall risk evaluations of seniors. Furthermore, visitants had the chance of trying out the Exergames, an application of serious games for fall prevention.
People who attended the fair could also pick up our flyers with tips to prevent falls. In this way, we contributed to increase the awareness about seniors’ falls and we showcased our projects that aim to contribute to the evaluation of one’s fall risk and the exercises that can prevent falls through technology.
Over the past two weeks, our Living Lab at Fraunhofer AICOS hosted a group of volunteers from Colaborar who came to help researchers working on the project SousChef.
Researchers wanted to know the daily habits of seniors and pre-seniors regarding food intake: preferences, limitations, number and composition of meals. Their anthropometric characteristics were also taken into account, as well as their activity level.
Then, the smartphone application provided a daily and weekly meal plan considering the information provided, so that the plan was personalised. Participants played an important role in evaluating the nutritional plans created by the application, by giving their feedback, according to their preferences.
Thank you to all the participants for your help in these sessions. We suppose you would prefer a food tasting session instead, so if ever we have the chance of organizing something along those lines, we promise to invite you!
Wearable sensors enable the assessment of multiple parameters and this information can be used to prevent falls and manage chronic diseases.
As these devices are close to one’s body, it is important that the devices are comfortable and easy to use. Since older adults are a major beneficiary user group regarding these devices, it is necessary to bear in mind physical, ergonomics, psychological and usability constrains, so that a new solution addressing all these aspects can be created. This is the purpose of a Master Thesis/Fraunhofer’s project named Design of wearable sensing devices. Seniors of COLABORAR were called to participate by trying out many commercially available devices and by sharing their preferences, enabling researchers to implement participatory design methods.
In the end, researchers will propose a new wearable device that matches the needs and preferences of older adults, supporting independence and safety at the same time.
The application developed under the Service Assisted Living (SAL) project is being tested by 6 seniors of COLABORAR.
The application enables users to evaluate skin lesions risk and the 2-month trial aims to provide researchers with insights regarding its usability. Each participant was given a handbook with information and instructions for using the smartphone application. Participants will make weekly check-ups of their skin moles and will report any problem using the application.
This application is part of a service of applied engineering that integrates Ambient Assisted Living technologies for innovative healthcare solutions.
Fraunhofer AICOS’s projects FCC – Fall Risk Assessment and SmartFeet will be on display at Semana das Ciências Aplicadas na Saúde 2015 (SCAS2015), in Coimbra. Fraunhofer AICOS will participate in SCAS2015, a large event of free screenings, hosted by AE-ESTeSC with the support of ESTeSC.
The event will take place on April 20-26, at Dolce Vita Coimbra. This is a special occasion, since this year SCAS celebrates 10 years. The event had great affluence in the past editions, with a total of 500 000 visitors and about 200 000 health evaluations provided to the citizens of the central region of Portugal. This year, many visitors are expected, including seniors who can try out the SmartFeet and the Fall Risk Assessment tool of Fraunhofer Portugal. Therefore, participants will have the chance to evaluate their fall risk and then to perform exercises that reduce this risk, thus preventing falls. Additionally, they can pick up flyers with tips to prevent falls.
We would like to thank AE-ESTeSC for the invitation.
If you are in the nearby, visit SCAS2015 and discover how to prevent falls.
After carrying out many tests with seniors to validate the application developed to assess individuals’ risk of falling, it was time to test the usability of the application.
Fraunhofer AICOS hosted a group of seniors to help us test the Fall Risk Assessment application. Among the participants, there were everyday smartphone users and also non-users. They were asked to perform a test consisting of some tasks that included the interaction with the interfaces, the answer to questionnaires to evaluate fall risk factors and some physical exercises, using the smartphone on the pocket. The application automatically analyzed the data to provide a ‘risk score’, as well as advice on how to prevent falls.
The implementation of this application will allow its users to be aware of their risk of falling and monitor it, as the risk could change according to the medical conditions of the users.
The paper prototype tests of the Master Thesis ICT4Dgui – Graphical User Interface recommendations for ICT4D are being carried out at the partner institutions of COLABORAR. African immigrants were invited to participate and they are helping us to test icons for smartphone interfaces. This research is very important as it will result in guidelines for the creation of iconography for the user interfaces of mobile devices of many applications that are being developed at Fraunhofer AICOS and will be used by communities living in rural areas in Africa. The user interfaces must respect the cultural and literacy aspects, as they have a direct impact on the interpretation of graphic elements (e.g., colour, shapes, human figures or gestures) and on the interaction itself with devices and services.
COLABORAR would like to thank all the participants for being so kind as to participate. Each of you gave an important step towards digital inclusion of populations living in rural areas in Africa.
What do seniors search for on the internet? What do they like to read and watch on the internet? What kind of information do they look for?
Within the Master Thesis EzNav – A Web browser for the elderly researchers are studying which topics seniors are searching for on the internet. Furthermore, they are designing a new mobile application to enable seniors to navigate the Web more easily. In order to do so, researchers interviewed several senior volunteers from COLABORAR, who helped them understand their favourite issues and what they want to know more about.
Then, each participant was asked to participate in an activity with paper prototypes: a usability test with mock-ups of icons and layouts. Researchers used this method to obtain feedback from the users regarding the layout and functionalities of the interfaces of the application of a browser for older adults.
The information will be used to create a browser specifically designed for older adults that matches their needs and expectations.
The AAL4ALL project was once again highlighted on national television, this time around on the programme “Sabia que?” of RTP Informação.
Fraunhofer received the RTP journalists, who began by interviewing the AAL4ALL team, who, in turn, explained the technical issues related to the software for the smartphone specifically designed for seniors. They also presented the web platform for caregivers, both informal and formal, designed so that they can stay up to date on the activities of their family members or people they care for (patients or attendees of a Centre for seniors, for example).
Then, two volunteers involved in the trials, Mr. António Baptista and his daughter, Mrs. Aldina Almeida, gave insights on the importance of the system for older adults and their caregivers.
Mr. Baptista emphasized the usefulness of the medication reminders and the importance of the size of the buttons that allowed easy reading. Mr. Baptista also commented that during the trial (2 months) he checked the chart that showed him his activity throughout the day. His daughter told the journalist that she felt more reassured for being able to remotely accompany the daily life of his father.
Thank you Mrs. Aldina Almeida and Mr. Baptista for your dedicated participation.
Watch the full news piece on the video below:
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