Age and Spatial Cue Effects on User Performance for an Adaptable Verbal Wayfinding System

This study aims on developing an interactive verbal wayfinding system that can adapt directions based on the user’s context. Rather than simply providing the shortest route like in existing navigation systems, the developed system searches for routes with fewer turns and generates easy-to-understand verbal explanations. A key feature is prioritizing the inclusion of landmark references at potential points of confusion to provide appropriate contextual cues. Base functions for route searching and verbal direction generation were implemented in this study. A subjective experiment was then conducted to evaluate how user age and the number of provided landmark references impact wayfinding performance when using the system’s verbal directions. Results revealed an age-dependent interaction: increasing landmarks did not universally improve wayfinding success. The optimal number of landmarks varied across age groups. The findings highlight the need to adapt the level of spatial cue details in verbal directions based on the user’s context.