The Influence of Age and Device Orientation on the Performance of Touch Gestures

Touch interaction has become a popular and widespread interaction technique. Recent studies indicate significant potential for touch interaction with regard to the integration of older adults into the world of ICT. We carried out a study with the goal of gaining deeper insight into performance differences between young and old users as well as the influence of tablet device orientation on performance. We implemented an application for the iPad that measures various performance characteristics when performing six gestural tasks-tap, drag, pinch, pinch-pan, rotate left and rotate right-for both portrait and landscape orientations. Results showed the importance of device orientation as an influencing factor on performance and indicate that age is not the exclusive influencing factor on touch interaction performance.