ABSTRACT
This chapter provides an overview of the characteristics of older adults, which are most relevant to design. “Psychographics” is a broad term used to capture characteristics of people that might influence purchasing decisions – it is frequently used in marketing contexts to describe consumers. Other variables in the category of psychographics do show age-related differences that might influence interactions with technology or willingness to adopt innovations. Sensation is the awareness of simple properties of stimuli such as color through the activation of receptor cells. An emerging area of interest related to design – haptics – relates generally to the sense of touch. Changes in vision also increase glare, decrease breadth of field, and slow speed of processing. The differences between men’s and women’s hearing capabilities may change since more women are engaging in work and leisure activities as younger adults that are detrimental to hearing.
