User interfaces for older adults

Abstract

Needs and wishes regarding the interaction with ICT solutions change over time and vary between older adults. They depend on the user's physical and mental capabilities and preferences. Thus the user interface, which is considered critical to the success or failure of an ICT product or service, should be adaptable. AALuis provides an open middleware layer to guarantee accessible and usable user interfaces for Ambient Assisted Living services. The general idea is to foster a detachment of the user interface from the service and its functionality, respectively. Furthermore an input fusion and output fission regarding I/O modalities based on the user's preferences is striven for. At the heart of AALuis lays a dynamically adapted, personalized interaction between an older adult and the service, with various I/O devices. The first results of the project look promising to achieve flexibility in the creation and usage of interfaces. The chosen approach allows further developments expanding the functionalities and improving the generated user interfaces. © 2013 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.