Comparison of Usability of Touch-screen and Button Cell Phones Among Elderly Users

Background and Objectives: The use of new technologies, particularly mobile phones, is drastically growing on a daily basis. The usability of mobile phones can be determined for different age groups in order to reach a balanced development plan with respect to this technology. The present study aimed to investigate and compare the usability of touch-screen and button cell phones among Iranian elderly users, with respect to objective performance and perceived usability.   Methods: In this cross-sectional study, 20 elders (50% female) with an average age of  were selected by simple random sampling method to measure the usability of touch-screen and button cell phones. In order to assess the objective performance of how elders work with cell phones, tests were conducted including items like typing speed, number of typing errors, taking photo, creating new contacts, and sending text messages. Perceived usability was obtained using a questionnaire of cell phone usability. Furthermore, muscle pressure and mental work load during cell phone use were evaluated by Borg CR10 and NASA-TLX questionnaires, respectively. Data were analyzed conducting statistical analysis tests of T-test and Mann-Whitney by SPSS24 software. Results: Results revealed that the average typing speed and typing errors in touch-screen cell phones are larger than that in button cell phones. Moreover, the average of perceived usability in touch-screen cell phones (5.8) is higher than that in button cell phones (4.3). Pearson correlation coefficient showed an inverse relationship (-0.3) between perceived usability and mental work load obtained in both types of the cell phones. Findings showed that the maximum perceived muscle pressure when working with a cell phone is felt in the neck area.  Conclusion: According to the obtained results, touch-screen cellphones are suggested for those elders who type more and button cell phones are recommended for those who use the cell phone menu more frequently, namely taking photo, calling, internet, and so forth.