An exploratory study of a touch-based gestural interface for elderly
Abstract
This paper presents the design ideas and a preliminary study of a touch-based gestural interface to support older adults in social networking. We had the hypothesis that the directness of gestures made them well suited to implement an interaction metaphor based on familiarity. Although preliminary, this hypothesis can be sustained. In particular, we found that most of the gestures (and in particular the iconic and the dynamic ones) have a hedonic quality that attracted and motivated our participants. We think that our results may contribute to the ongoing debate about gestural interfaces and help in understanding the value and the issue of this form of interaction.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
In Leonardi et al. (2010), only 2 of 15 older participants had some computer experience and the others had none.
“For instance, in Findlater et al. (2013), 9 of 20 older adults used touch-screen devices on a daily basis and 3 had never used such devices; in Piper et al. (2010), 17 out of 20 older adults used computer daily, but in Leonardi et al. (2010) only 2 of 15 older participants had some computer experience and the others had none.”
From Intuitive Learnability of Touch Gestures for Technology-Naive Older Adults (2015) · cites this paper as Leonardi et al., 2010
Cites
Computer use by older adults: A multi-disciplinary review
Wagner, N., Hassanein, K., & Head, M. (2010) · Computers in Human Behavior · doi:10.1016/j.chb.2010.03.029 · Cited by 678 · see citing works
Natural user interfaces are not natural
Norman, D. A. (2010) · interactions · doi:10.1145/1744161.1744163 · Cited by 479 · see citing works
Selwyn, N. (2003) · Technology in Society · doi:10.1016/s0160-791x(02)00062-3 · Cited by 441 · see citing works
Fat Finger Worries: How Older and Younger Users Physically Interact with PDAs
Siek, K. A., Rogers, Y., & Connelly, K. H. (2005) · Lecture Notes in Computer Science · doi:10.1007/11555261_24 · Cited by 337 · see citing works
Eisma, R., Dickinson, A., Goodman, J., Syme, A., Tiwari, L., & Newell Alan, F. (2004) · Universal Access in the Information Society · doi:10.1007/s10209-004-0092-z · Cited by 278 · see citing works
Laguna, K. D., & Babcock, R. L. (1997) · Computers in Human Behavior · doi:10.1016/s0747-5632(97)00012-5 · Cited by 228 · see citing works
Melenhorst, A.-S., Rogers, W. A., & Caylor, E. C. (2001) · Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society Annual Meeting · doi:10.1177/154193120104500305 · Cited by 172 · see citing works
Designing Gestural Interfaces: Touchscreens and Interactive Devices
Saffer, D. (2008) · CERN Document Server (European Organization for Nuclear Research) · Cited by 171 · see citing works
Usability of Touch-Panel Interfaces for Older Adults
Murata, A., & Iwase, H. (2005) · Human Factors The Journal of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society · doi:10.1518/001872005775570952 · Cited by 120 · see citing works
Designing a familiar technology for elderly people
Leonardi, C., Mennecozzi, C., Not, E., Pianesi, F., & Zancanaro, M. (2008) · Gerontechnology · doi:10.4017/gt.2008.07.02.088.00 · Cited by 63 · see citing works
Self-citationJacob, R. J. K., Girouard, A., Hirshfield, L., Horn, M., Shaer, O., Solovey, E., & Zigelbaum, J. (2007) · CHI Conference Extended Abstracts on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI EA) · doi:10.1145/1240866.1241025 · Cited by 52 · see citing works
Being-with: A study of familiarity
Turner, P. (2008) · Interacting with Computers · doi:10.1016/j.intcom.2008.04.002 · Cited by 37 · see citing works
ATTITUDES OF OLDER ADULTS TOWARD A COMPUTER TRAINING PROGRAM
Segrist, K. A. (2004) · Educational Gerontology · doi:10.1080/03601270490466958 · Cited by 35 · see citing works
Effects of Multimodal Feedback on the Performance of Older Adults with Normal and Impaired Vision
Jacko, J. A., Scott, I. U., Sainfort, F., Moloney, K. P., Kongnakorn, T., Zorich, B. S., & Emery, V. K. (2003) · Lecture notes in computer science · doi:10.1007/3-540-36572-9_1 · Cited by 31 · see citing works
Improving computer interaction for older adults
Hollinworth, N. (2009) · ACM SIGACCESS Accessibility and Computing · doi:10.1145/1531930.1531932 · Cited by 27 · see citing works
Familiarity as a basis for universal design
Turner, P. A., & de Walle, G. V. (2006) · Gerontechnology · doi:10.4017/gt.2006.05.03.004.00 · Cited by 26 · see citing works
Computer Hardware and Software Interfaces: Why the Elderly Are Under-Represented as Computer Users
Bucur, A., & KWON, S. (1999) · CyberPsychology & Behavior · doi:10.1089/cpb.1999.2.535 · Cited by 13 · see citing works
Flagged first, then by citations
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Empirical Studies on Usability of mHealth Apps: A Systematic Literature Review
Zapata, B. C., Fernández-Alemán, J. L., Idri, A., & Toval, A. (2015) · Journal of Medical Systems · doi:10.1007/s10916-014-0182-2 · Cited by 585 · see citing works
Elderly User Evaluation of Mobile Touchscreen Interactions
Kobayashi, M., Hiyama, A., Miura, T., Asakawa, C., Hirose, M., & Ifukube, T. (2011) · Lecture Notes in Computer Science · doi:10.1007/978-3-642-23774-4_9 · Cited by 227 · see citing works
Grindrod, K., Li, M., & Gates, A. (2014) · JMIR mhealth and uhealth · doi:10.2196/mhealth.3048 · Cited by 202 · see citing works
Acceptance Factors of Mobile Apps for Diabetes by Patients Aged 50 or Older: A Qualitative Study
Scheibe, M., Reichelt, J., Bellmann, M., & Kirch, W. (2015) · Medicine 2 0 · doi:10.2196/med20.3912 · Cited by 181 · see citing works
Age-related differences in performance with touchscreens compared to traditional mouse input
Findlater, L., Froehlich, J. E., Fattal, K., Wobbrock, J. O., & Dastyar, T. (2013) · Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems · doi:10.1145/2470654.2470703 · Cited by 172 · see citing works
Al‐Razgan, M., Al-Khalifa, H. S., Alshahrani, M., & AlAjmi, H. H. (2012) · Lecture notes in computer science · doi:10.1007/978-3-642-34478-7_69 · Cited by 79 · see citing works
Ambient Awareness to Strengthen the Family Social Network of Older Adults
Cornejo, R., Tentori, M. E., & Favela, J. (2012) · Computer Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW) · doi:10.1007/s10606-012-9166-2 · Cited by 63 · see citing works
Characteristics of Elderly User Behavior on Mobile Multi-touch Devices
Harada, S., Sato, D., Takagi, H., & Asakawa, C. (2013) · Lecture Notes in Computer Science · doi:10.1007/978-3-642-40498-6_25 · Cited by 61 · see citing works
Multi-touch as a Natural User Interface for elders: A survey
Loureiro, B., & Rodrigues, R. (2011) · Iberian Conference on Information Systems and Technologies (CISTI) · Cited by 51 · see citing works
Hou, G., & Hu, Y. (2021) · Human Factors The Journal of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society · doi:10.1177/00187208211061938 · Cited by 37 · see citing works
Investigating familiar interactions to help older adults learn computer applications more easily
Hollinworth, N., & Hwang, F. (2011) · Electronic Workshops in Computing · doi:10.14236/ewic/hci2011.79 · Cited by 35 · see citing works
Interface adaptation to novice older adults’ mental models through concrete metaphors
Zhou, J., Chourasia, A., & Vanderheiden, G. (2017) · International Journal of Human–Computer Interaction · doi:10.1080/10447318.2016.1265827 · Cited by 32 · see citing works
Intuitive Learnability of Touch Gestures for Technology-Naive Older Adults
Mihajlov, M., Law, E. L.-C., & Springett, M. (2015) · Interacting with Computers · doi:10.1093/iwc/iwu044 · Cited by 30 · see citing works
Can Skeuomorphic Design Provide a Better Online Banking User Experience for Older Adults?
Ellis, A., & Marshall, M. T. (2019) · Multimodal Technologies and Interaction · doi:10.3390/mti3030063 · Cited by 30 · see citing works
The development of a mobile user interface ability evaluation system for the elderly
Lin, C. J., & Ho, S.-H. (2020) · Applied Ergonomics · doi:10.1016/j.apergo.2020.103215 · Cited by 27 · see citing works
Design Guidelines and Design Recommendations of Multi-Touch Interfaces for Elders
Loureiro, B., & Rodrigues, R. (2014) · Cited by 24 · see citing works
Navarro, R. F., & Favela, J. (2011) · International Conference on PErvasive Technologies Related to Assistive Environments (PETRA) · doi:10.1145/2141622.2141656 · Cited by 21 · see citing works
Boll, F., & Brüne, P. (2015) · Procedia Computer Science · doi:10.1016/j.procs.2015.08.377 · Cited by 20 · see citing works
Motti, L. G., Vigouroux, N., & Gorce, P. (2017) · Journal d Interaction Personne-Système · doi:10.46298/jips.3180 · Cited by 20 · see citing works
Rist, T., Seiderer, A., Hammer, S., Mayr, M., & André, E. (2015) · International Conference on Pervasive Computing Technologies for Healthcare · doi:10.4108/icst.pervasivehealth.2015.259255 · Cited by 20 · see citing works
User-centered design strategies for age-friendly mobile news apps
Jiang, Q., Deng, L., Zhang, J., & Pengbo, Y. (2024) · Sage Open · doi:10.1177/21582440241285393 · Cited by 18 · see citing works
Kerne, A., Hamilton, W. A., & Dugas, P. O. T. (2012) · ACM Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW) · doi:10.1145/2145204.2145284 · Cited by 16 · see citing works
Building a Client-Server Social Network Application for Elders and Safety Net
Pensas, H., Kivimäki, T., Vainio, A.-M., Konakas, S., Costicoglou, S., Kölndorfer, P., Summanen, K., Moisio, H., & Vanhala, J. J. (2013) · International Academic Mindtrek Conference (Mindtrek) · doi:10.1145/2523429.2523435 · Cited by 13 · see citing works
Speech and Gestures for Smart-Home Control and Interaction for Older Adults
Anbarasan, & Lee, J. S. A. (2018) · International Workshop on Multimedia for Personal Health and Health Care (MMHealth) · doi:10.1145/3264996.3265002 · Cited by 13 · see citing works
Question-Answer Cards for an Inclusive Micro-tasking Framework for the Elderly
Kobayashi, M., Ishihara, T., Kosugi, A., Takagi, H., & Asakawa, C. (2013) · Lecture notes in computer science · doi:10.1007/978-3-642-40477-1_38 · Cited by 12 · see citing works
Tunca, E., Zoller, I., & Lotz, P. (2018) · International Conference on Automotive User Interfaces and Interactive Vehicular Applications (AutomotiveUI) · doi:10.1145/3239060.3239077 · Cited by 12 · see citing works
Grindrod, K., Gates, A., Dolovich, L. R., Slavcev, R. A., Drimmie, R., Aghaei, B., Poon, C., Khan, S., & Leat, S. J. (2014) · JMIR mhealth and uhealth · doi:10.2196/mhealth.3250 · Cited by 12 · see citing works
(2013) · Maynooth University ePrints and eTheses Archive (Maynooth University) · Cited by 10 · see citing works
Embodied Interaction Design to Promote Creative Social Engagement for Older Adults
Lee, L., Okerlund, J., Maher, M. L., & Farina, T. (2020) · Lecture notes in computer science · doi:10.1007/978-3-030-50252-2_13 · Cited by 9 · see citing works
Older adults’ expectations, experiences, and preferences in programming physical robot assistance
Ajaykumar, G., Pineda, K. T., & Huang, C. (2023) · International Journal of Human-Computer Studies · doi:10.1016/j.ijhcs.2023.103127 · Cited by 9 · see citing works
Ouyang, X., Zhou, J., & Xiang, H. (2021) · International Journal of Human-Computer Interaction · doi:10.1080/10447318.2020.1870830 · Cited by 8 · see citing works
Sensor-based and tangible interaction with a TV community platform for seniors
Herrmanny, K., Gözüyasli, L., Deja, D., & Ziegler, J. (2015) · ACM SIGCHI Symposium on Engineering Interactive Computing Systems (EICS) · doi:10.1145/2774225.2774849 · Cited by 6 · see citing works
Towards your Parents' Social Network Platform: Design of a User Interface for the Age of Retirement
Boll, F., Brüne, P., & Gewald, H. (2017) · Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences (HICSS) · doi:10.24251/hicss.2017.450 · Cited by 6 · see citing works
A Guidance and Evaluation Approach for mHealth Education Applications
Aljaber, T., & Gordon, N. A. (2017) · Lecture notes in computer science · doi:10.1007/978-3-319-58515-4_26 · Cited by 6 · see citing works
Spiral tracing on a touchscreen is influenced by age, hand, implement, and friction
Walters, B. H., & Keenan, K. G. (2018) · PLoS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0191309 · Cited by 6 · see citing works
Control with Hand Gestures by Older Users: A Review
Liang, S. M., & Lee, Y.-J. B. (2016) · Lecture notes in computer science · doi:10.1007/978-3-319-39943-0_34 · Cited by 5 · see citing works
Liu, F., & Zhou, J. (2018) · Advances in intelligent systems and computing · doi:10.1007/978-3-319-96065-4_16 · Cited by 5 · see citing works
Tablet Applications for the Elderly: Specific Usability Guidelines
Blendinger, K. (2015) · Cited by 5 · see citing works
Huang, H., & Hou, G. (2025) · Frontiers in Computer Science · doi:10.3389/fcomp.2025.1659594 · Cited by 5 · see citing works
From Skepticism to Acceptance: On the Dynamics of Elderly Engagement with Mixed Reality
Sehrt, J., Mbamara, E., Rafati, M., & Schwind, V. (2024) · Mensch und Computer (MuC) · doi:10.1145/3670653.3670666 · Cited by 4 · see citing works
Investigating activity zones on smartphones: An empirical study with older adults
Silva, P. A., Leitão, R., & Kerwin, M. K. (2017) · Encontro Português de Computação Gráfica e Interação (EPCGI) · doi:10.1109/epcgi.2017.8124301 · Cited by 3 · see citing works
User-specific touch interfaces: a viable solution for an aging society?
Shahal, A., Spang, R., Minge, M., Trahms, C., & Voigt-Antons, J.-N. (2021) · Behavior and Information Technology · doi:10.1080/0144929x.2021.1906322 · Cited by 5 · see citing works
Li, Y., Saini, S., Caine, K. E., & Connelly, K. (2018) · Elsevier eBooks · doi:10.1016/b978-0-12-811272-4.00007-5 · Cited by 3 · see citing works
Micocci, M., & Spinelli, G. (2018) · J of Design Research · doi:10.1504/jdr.2018.099536 · Cited by 4 · see citing works
Evaluation of mobile health education applications for health professionals and patients
Gordon, N. A., & Aljaber, T. (2016) · Repository@Hull (Worktribe) (University of Hull) · Cited by 2 · see citing works
Correia, E. P., Guedes, C., Bessa, M., Oliveira, L., Carvalho, D. M., & Magalhães, L. G. (2012) · Portuguese National Funding Agency for Science, Research and Technology (RCAAP Project by FCT) · Cited by 2 · see citing works
Using Ambient Communication and Social Networking Technologies to Reduce Loneliness of Elders
Pensas, H., Vainio, A.-M., Garschall, M., Kivimäki, T., Konakas, S., Costicoglou, S., & Vanhala, J. J. (2014) · Lecture notes in computer science · doi:10.1007/978-3-319-07632-4_9 · Cited by 2 · see citing works
Towards Your Parents' Social Network Platform – A User Interface for the Age of Retirement
Boll, F., Brüne, P., & Gewald, H. (2017) · Cited by 2 · see citing works
Usabilidade das interações táteis em dispositivos móveis por pessoas idosas
Martins, G. A. D. A. (2016) · doi:10.11606/d.55.2016.tde-23112016-163643 · Cited by 3 · see citing works
Walters, B. H., Huddleston, W. E., O’Connor, K. M., Wang, J., Bement, M. H., & Keenan, K. G. (2025) · Experimental Brain Research · doi:10.1007/s00221-025-07001-2 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
Exploring Design Guidelines of Mobile Exergame for Older Adults
Pindeh, N., Kamaruddin, A., Norowi, N. M., & Rahmat, R. W. O. K. (2022) · International HCI and UX Conference in Indonesia (CHIuXiD) · doi:10.1109/chiuxid57244.2022.10009875 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
Is a multi-touch gesture interface based on a tablet better than a smart phone for elderly users?
Wang, P. (2014) · Tuwhera (Auckland University of Technology) · Cited by 1 · see citing works
Lim, J.-H., & Ryu, T. (2012) · Journal of the Ergonomics Society of Korea · doi:10.5143/jesk.2012.31.2.413
Tap and Swipe Activity Zones on Smartphones for Novice Older Adults
Silva, P. A., Leitão, R., & Kerwin, M. K. (2018) · International Journal of Creative Interfaces and Computer Graphics · doi:10.4018/ijcicg.2018070102
The Partially Sighted Older Computer User: Assessing the Ease of Use of Two Input Devices
van den Brink, B. K. (2012)
Usability Study on a New Assembly of 3D Interactive Gestures for Human–Computer Interaction
Wu, B.-H., Zhang, G., Zhang, X., Mei, S., Wu, J., Li, H., & Yang, Z. (2021) · Lecture notes in networks and systems · doi:10.1007/978-3-030-74614-8_58
Tap and Swipe Activity Zones on Smartphones for Novice Older Adults
Silva, P. A., Leitão, R., & Kerwin, M. K. (2022) · IGI Global eBooks · doi:10.4018/978-1-6684-5295-0.ch051
Esquer-Rochin, M., Rodríguez, L.-F., & Gutiérrez-García, J. O. (2026) · Current Alzheimer Research · doi:10.2174/0115672050426574251114053819
- Authors
- Leonardi, C., Albertini, A., Pianesi, F., & Zancanaro, M.
- Affiliations
- FBK-irst, Trento, Italy
- ORCID
- Zancanaro, Massimo
- Venue
- Proceedings of the 6th Nordic Conference on Human-Computer Interaction: Extending Boundaries
- Publisher
- ACM
- Published
- 2010-10-16
- Pages
- 845-850
- OpenAlex
- W2007211135
- Cited by
- 58
- References
- 17
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2025: 1 · 2024: 2 · 2023: 1 · 2022: 2 · 2021: 4 · 2020: 2 · 2019: 1 · 2018: 7 · 2017: 5 · 2016: 5 · 2015: 6 · 2014: 6 · 2013: 5 · 2012: 6
- FWCI
- 3.67
- Type
- conference paper
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Nordic Conference on Human-Computer Interaction (publishedVersion)
- Iris (University of Trento) (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Computer Science › Human-Computer Interaction › Interactive and Immersive Displays
- Social Sciences › Demography › Technology Use by Older Adults
- Physical Sciences › Computer Science › Human-Computer Interaction › Hand Gesture Recognition Systems
- Keywords
- older adults, social networking, interaction metaphors, familiarity, iconic gestures, dynamic gestures, user motivation
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review