Younger and older adults with low vision have similar haptic capabilities and needs in 3D virtual navigation

More than 82% of the population with visual impairment consist of older adults (50 years and over), with the largest cause being age-related vision loss in individuals 65 and over. There are various assistive technologies (for instance, haptic technology) that older adults with low vision rely on to achieve greater independence in everyday life. We applied brain-plasticity theory to understand how both younger and older adults with low vision use haptic perception and its effect on their perceived needs for haptic user interfaces (HUIs) for computer navigation. Study 1 measured older and younger adults’ haptic perception and Study 2 explored the HUI needs. We found no difference between the two age groups in terms of haptic perception or perceived haptic computer-interface needs.