Investigating Age Differences in Passive Haptic Feedback for Immersive Virtual Reality: A Pilot Study on Configuration Tasks

Since the aging process leads to a variety of cognitive and perceptual changes, this might also impact the use of immersive virtual reality (IVR) systems. This study investigated age-related differences in IVR configuration tasks by comparing passive haptics, mid-air, and controller interaction in an age-heterogenious sample (N=38). Although older participants took significantly longer for task-completion, this was not reflected in subjective usability ratings, which did not differ significantly between age groups (young, middle-aged, older adults). However, the sense of presence (IPQ) was significantly higher in the middle-aged group, independent of the interaction technique used. This highlights the importance of including middle-aged adults in age-differentiated IVR research (alongside young and older adults) to obtain a holistic picture of the ageing process. Unexpectedly, the three interaction techniques did not differ significantly in subjective usability, presence, and task completion times, suggesting that passive haptics, mid-air, and controller interaction in IVR might be equally well-suited for simple one-dimensional configuration tasks, regardless of users' age. Whether this also applies to multi-dimensional configuration, has to be explored in future studies. Additionally, follow-up studies should measure key perceptual and cognitive variables to define age groups beyond chronological age. This may especially shed light on how middle-aged adults differ from young and older adults in terms of user characteristics and how these relate crucial IVR aspects, i.e. presence and usability.