Many products today are laden with a host of features which, for the majority of users, remain unused and often obscure the use of the simple features of use for which the product was devised (Norman in The design of everyday things. Basic Books, 2002; Keates and Clarkson in Countering design exclusion—an introduction to inclusive design. Springer, 2004). Since the cognitive capabilities of the marketed target group are largely not affected by age-related impairment, the intellectual demands of such products are frequently high (Rabbitt in Quart J Exp Psychol 46A(3):385–434, 1993). In addition, the age and technology generation of a product user will colour their expectations of the product interface and affect the range of skills they have available (Docampo in Technology generations handling complex User Interfaces. Ph. D. thesis, 2001). This paper addresses the issue of what features of products make them easy or difficult to learn to use, for the wider population as well as the older user, and whether and in what way individual prior experience affect the learning and use of a product design. To achieve the above, the interactions of users of varying ages and capabilities with two different everyday products were recorded in detail as they performed set tasks. Retrospective verbal protocols were then analysed using a category scheme based on an analysis of types of learning and cognition errors. This data was then compared with users’ performance on individual detailed experience questionnaires and a number of tests of general and specific cognitive capabilities. The principal finding was that similarity of prior experience to the usage situation was the main determinant of performance, although there was also some evidence for a gradual, age-related capability decline. Users of all ages adopted a means-end or trial and error interaction when faced with unfamiliar elements of the interaction. There was a strong technology generation effect such that older users were reluctant or unable to complete the required tasks for a digital camera.

The effects of prior experience on the use of consumer products

A review of the environmental parameters necessary for an optimal sleep environment

This article reviews the literature about the effects of specific non-traffic-related ambient noise sources on sleep that appeared in the last two decades. Although everybody is faced with noise of non-traffic and non-industry origin (e.g. sounds made by neighbors, talk, laughter, music, slamming doors, structural equipment, ventilation, heat pumps, noise from animals, barking dogs, outdoor events etc.), little scientific knowledge exists about its effects on sleep. The findings of the present extensive literature search and review are as follows: Only a small number of surveys, laboratory and field studies about mainly neighborhood, leisure and animal noise have been carried out. Most of them indicate that ambient noise has some effect on human sleep. However, a quantitative meta-analysis and comparison is not possible due to the small number of studies available and at times large differences in quality.

https://www.zora.uzh.ch/id/eprint/48813/1/Omlin%2C_Bauer%2C_Brink.pdf

Effects of noise from non-traffic-related ambient sources on sleep: Review of the literature of 1990-2010

Chronic exposure of rats to noise: relationship between long-term memory deficits and slow wave sleep disturbances.

Deleterious effects of an environmental noise on sleep and contribution of its physical components in a rat model.

The effect of different kinds of noise on the quality of sleep under the controlled conditions

Desirable properties for identification of auditory warning signals

Many kinds of synthesized signals are used in our daily life, for example, warning signals for: vehicles moving in reverse, signaling the end of a washing machine cycle, electric pots boiling, and telephone bells. Sometimes these signals are quite similar and are mistaken for each other. The present investigation was designed to examine what kind of synthesized signals are appropriate for each purpose. The impressions of the timbre of the signals were judged using semantic differentials and identification of the signals was also examined. The results of these subjective evaluations were examined in relation to the physical properties of the signals. Since the impressions of sounds are sometimes different in different cultures, cross‐cultural comparison was also made in order to find appropriate signals that can be used internationally.

Subjective evaluation of synthesized signals

Accessible Design of Voice Guides for Consumer Products and Office Equipment

As the first stage of the research into factors determining the optimum listening level of music performance, its methodology was examined. In experiment 1, a part of Symphony No. 6 in b‐minor Op. 74, ‘‘Pathetique,’’ composed by Tchaikovsky, was used and the instantaneous impressions of loudness were judged using the method of continuous judgment by categories developed by Namba and Kuwano. A high correlation coefficient was found between LAeq, 100 ms, and instantaneous impression of loudness sampled every 100 ms, which confirms the applicability of the method to the loudness of music performance. In experiment 2, musically significant portions whose durations were 5 to 20 s, were selected from the stimulus used in experiment 1 and rearranged in descending series and ascending series according to their sound levels with about 5‐s silent intervals. The instantaneous impression of their loudness was judged as in experiment 1. It was found that each block in the ascending series was judged louder than the co...

Tazu Mizunami

Papers

The effect of different kinds of noise on the quality of sleep under the controlled conditions

Desirable properties for identification of auditory warning signals

Subjective evaluation of synthesized signals

Accessible Design of Voice Guides for Consumer Products and Office Equipment

The context effect on loudness in listening to music