Older pedestrians' user experiences with two wearable navigation devices: a study in the city

Designing navigation aids for older pedestrians could help them stay autonomous in their daily activities. Here we present a rich description of the navigation experience of older pedestrians either with visual (augmented reality glasses) or auditory (bone conduction headphones) wearable devices adapted to age-related declines. In a study with 18 participants we measured the navigation performance and applied the Explicitation Interview Technique to capture detailed descriptions of the users' experience. We highlight three main phenomena which impact the quality of the user experience with the two devices: (1) the transformation of the peripheral awareness, (2) the contextualization of information, and (3) the emergence of feelings along the route. This study adds a new understanding of the navigation experience by older people and is discussed in terms of design recommendations for navigation devices.