An Emotional-Aware Mobile Terminal Accessibility-Assisted Recommendation System for the Elderly Based on Haptic Recognition

Abstract

For the purpose of improving the user experience of mobile smart terminals for the elderly, accessibility tools have become an indispensable component of intelligent system frameworks to meet the varying needs of senior citizens for assistance. Nonetheless, the complexity of accessibility assistive tools complicates the lives of some elderly with a lack of cognitive experience to use these tools independently. Our purpose is to study the relationship between the accessibility design elements of smartphones, the emotions, and touch behaviors of elderly users, and to optimize the accessibility design methods of mobile smart terminals. First, we obtained the four interface elements with the most influence on users through a Semantic Differential evaluation involving 50 participants. Second, in a touch event collection experiment, 20 participants’ touch data was collected, and an SVM-based correlation model between interface elements, user emotions, and touch behaviors was established. Third, the prototype of the assistive recommender was iterated employing the combination of the correlation model and Genetic Algorithms. Ultimately, the effectiveness of the six touch media recommendations was compared through usability testing. The experimental results indicates that: (1) Emotion-aware accessibility assistive recommendation systems based on haptic recognition can enhance the elderly’s ability to access information through mobile terminals. (2) Middle-aged and elderly users have a more robust negative emotion reflection for dragging and swiping on touch screens. (3) Negative emotions of elderly users can assist identify design defects of accessibility tools. Our research work distilled a set of design suggestions for digital accessibility improvement, thereby enhancing the usability and inclusiveness of assistive tools in diverse contexts, and reducing the psychological pressure caused by unfamiliar interfaces. This study supplies a reference for improving the emotional experience of elderly people employing mobile terminals and extending the approach to accessible design.