Do you think phones for elderly people always will need to have physical buttons? What about a customisable touchscreen smartphone where you can put virtual buttons with pictures of family members to tap for calling them on the home screen for example and lock all unwanted functions?

Designing dedicated physical devices for any special group of people is always going to be very costly for the hardware providers and these devices will never get as much attention as the manufacturer’s mainstream models. A software solution on a mainstream device is much cheaper and more customisable for the specific needs of the individual. It also removes the stigma attached to a “special needs” device.

Of course, the hardware issues, e.g. remembering to charge the battery, as mentioned here would not be solved with a smartphone as such, but these problems could be solved with peripheral hardware, which is cheaper to build than a whole new phone model. With the wifi/bluetooth/NFC capabilities of a smartphone, the phones can communicate anything to any device. Plus they can offer so many more intelligent services for monitoring and alerting for example.

I have recently done a research project with older users (only up to 72 years of age, so not the typical target audience for the phones described here), who used an iPhone for the first time. They found the iPhone easier to learn than their own phone with its deep menus (again, they weren’t special senior phones but normal button operated feature phones) and they also found the touchscreen more pleasant to operate than their phone with its small and fiddly buttons.

I personally think that the way forward is an inclusive design of mobile devices which are operable by a wide audience rather than specialised devices for small groups, similar to the approach of accessibility on websites.

I’d be interested to hear your thoughts on this.

I am not as worried about a corded phone as in my previous post. I have learned that a cordless phone can work well. The phone should have a cradle that allows it to be placed upright and should slip easily into the cradle. The charger connections should be functional even if the user is not careful about how the phone is placed into the cradle.

A satellite charger base that can be strapped to the bed rail (e.g. velcro straps) or screwed into the wall beside the bed. (The phone needs to be handy and he has very little flat space near him – just a night table and a hospital-style eating tray on wheels).

An accessory – a stand that could hold the phone base (or a satellite charger) at a convenient height beside the bed, (like a short pole lamp with a flat top and a sturdy base that is on castors or wheels).

Protection from telemarketers is next.

Protection from abuse by preventing the phone from making long distance calls or 1-900 calls (high charge per minute services like phone sex can really add up. I have heard horror stories of huge phone bills that have to be paid).

Allowing a whitelist of numbers for long distance (all other incoming and/or outgoing long distance numbers are blocked).

Allowing a whitelist of incoming numbers for local calling is also valuable.

He has called late at night, then hung up in an upset mood, but we dare not call back for fear of waking his roommate. So, it would be great if we could program the phone to ring silently (lights and vibration only) during specific hours.

When a call button was pressed, the phone would start by ensuring the phone was disconnected (hung up), then would open a connection and then dial the number. The phone would hang up as soon as the other party hung up, or if the call was not answered within 120 seconds. There would be no SOS button, or the button there would be an option to disable it and if pushed when disabled, the display would show “DISABLED”. There would be no green connect button – the dial buttons would handle opening the connection.

The phone would display “BUSY” if the called number was busy and “RINGING” when the ring was being sounded in the ear piece, and “ANSWERED” if the call was answered. It is important to use words, not symbols.

When there was an incoming call, the phone would ring and vibrate and the body of the phone would brightly glow during each ring (or LEDs embeded into the top and bottom faces would blink).

The phone could be corded with a long, durable cable that had some coils at each end but was otherwise straight. Or, the phone could be cordless with an optional tether made of strong plastic-covered wire with a spring at one end to provide some cusion when the tether was pulled taught. The idea here is to keep the phone handy and to prevent it from being lost or taken.

One advantage of a cord is that there would be no concern about remembering to charge batteries. If that seems trivial, you have not dealt with elderly users.

If cordless …

The phone would display “CHARGE ME” when the battery was low (simple words, large letters). The base unit would have a simple cradle that held the phone upgright and a proximity charging system to eliminate the need to place it in any particular position.

Cordless or corded …

There would be a clip that could be slid to any point along the tether or cord (with enough friction that the clip would stay put once positioned) to allow the cord to be lightly attached to a pillow or bed-side strap to keep it from falling into places where it would get snagged. The tether would end in a trangular hoop and the package would include some different ends to attach to that hoop, perhaps a velcro strap, a strong clip, a tab with a screw hole and a caribeaner.

The base unit would have a snap-down cover that hid all controls. Under the cover, there would be controls to program the numbers for the phone and to create a blacklist or whitelist of incoming numbers, with an option to block all long distance calls (telemarketers) except for the long distance numbers in the whitelist, and to block all outgoing long distance calls and 900-numbers (to prevent unauthorized bills generted by staff and others). A code would have to be entered to access the admin functions.

The base unit would have a dial pad under the cover, to allow the line to be used by visitors to call any unblocked number.

For my Mom, who has more faculties and more technology savvy from being a secretary, I would have a cordless handset with dialing numbers and a dial key and a simple scroll list of names. Other than that, I would have the same features.

Check out the BONE PHONE as well. It helps people who have trouble hearing by sending sound along the bone structure of the ear.

As a train commuter the designated radio button would make my experience very smooth and would make a phone like these attractive to me.

For my elderly parents however the main problem is accessing the menu for numbers of various family members and friends. The ABCD phone is great but they need to keep in contact with more than 4 people.

The earlier comment about ‘hanging up’ is also valid for seniors.

Thanks for pointing out some of the features and options.