fly the grayer skies

As Baby Boomers reach senior citizenhood, Boeing looks for ways to meet their changing needs.

by Gayle Ehrenman

The world is growing older—not just geologically, but biologically, too. By 2050, the population of adults 60 and older will be larger than the population of children under 14 for the first time in human history.

In 2011, the Baby Boomer generation will begin to turn 65; by 2030, one in five people in the United States will be 65 or older, according to the Federal Interagency Forum on Aging Related Statistics. In the U.S., the fastest growing population segment is those 85 and older. In 1999, there were 593 million people age 60 and over in the world, constituting 10 percent of the world population. By 2050, the United Nations estimates, this figure will triple to nearly 2 billion older people, constituting 22 percent of the world's population. Nearly one in four people will be 60 or older.

Age may slow down these Baby Boomers a bit, but it's not going to stop them from doing the things they've always done, such as hiking, biking, and traveling. Meeting the needs of this aging population is a challenge that design engineers are going to have to tackle head-on.

Boeing is conducting research into the needs of this population, and expects to translate those needs into refinements in airplane cabin design.

Boeing's next-generation 7E7 uses new lighting techniques to make it more passenger-friendly.

"Baby Boomers were the first generation to consider air travel a routine part of life," said Vicki Curtis, a senior specialist engineer at the Boeing Payloads Center in Everett, Wash. "Their parents flew rarely, if at all, because it was so expensive. But the Baby Boomers fly all the time, for business and pleasure, because it's affordable and convenient. There's no reason to believe they're going to stop flying just because they're growing older."

Curtis embarked on a nine-month research project to determine how best to serve this future airline market.

The project began with a simple phone call, according to Curtis. One of the Boeing technical fellows called her, and asked if she knew that the number of people over age 65 was increasing dramatically. Reading the statistics on the graying of the world got her to wondering, "What is the future passenger going to look like?"

To find the answer to that question, her team interviewed older people at retirement homes and retirement communities, as well as the parents of Boeing employees. They also interviewed flight attendants about their interactions with senior passengers.

The team went to Seattle/Tacoma Airport and, with the help of Alaska Airlines, went to the gate area to interview senior passengers who were about to board a flight, others who were deplaning after a flight, and still others who were waiting in baggage claim to retrieve their belongings.

The passenger interviews weren't as helpful as Curtis had hoped. "We asked passengers to describe a good flight vs. a bad flight," she said. "Most defined the quality of the flight in terms of the quality of the service they received on the flight. The passengers talked very little about the accommodations of the plane; it seemed like they just took it for granted that there were things that made them uncomfortable and that they didn't want to admit that they couldn't reach the overhead storage bins."

The flight attendant interviews proved to be more helpful, however. "We asked the attendants to keep track of how many times older passengers got up to go to the bathroom; if they were able to get out of their seats and navigate the aisles without trouble; if they needed help stowing or retrieving items from the overhead bins, and more," Curtis said. "This provided a good place for us to start in terms of looking at the design of the cabin."

In addition to the field research, Curtis brought in an expert on intergenerational design to conduct an educational seminar. That expert, James Joseph Pirkl, is executive director of Transgenerational Design Matters, a nonprofit research and education organization in Placitas, N.M., that helps companies design environments that serve Baby Boomers, their children, and their aging parents.

Pirkl, who is a retired professor of industrial design, explained the concepts of inclusive design to the Boeing team. According to Pirkl, the goal is to design an environment that accommodates the old, the young, the able, and the disabled, but doesn't look specialized to meet the needs of any one group.

In 1958, the 707 introduced state-of-the-art cabin features, such as folding armrests and under-seat storage. Airplane interiors are little changed.

Curtis also brought in Susan Duncan, the founder of Adaptations Inc. of Bellevue, Wash., to conduct a hands-on workshop on what it's like to be an older person. Adaptations Inc. is an accessibility consulting service that helps businesses create accessible environments for the aging population and people with disabilities.

The hands-on workshop was extremely beneficial, according to Curtis, because it helped the team understand the sensory changes that occur as people age.

As part of that workshop, Duncan had Boeing team members don goggles that mimic some of the visual limitations experienced by an older population, such as tunnel vision, macular degeneration, and blindness. Team members also wore earplugs, to mimic loss of hearing, and big gloves, to mimic the loss of fine motor control and tactile sensation that often comes with age.

"We ate lunch wearing one ear plug, goggles, and big gloves," Curtis said. "As you were eating, you had no clue if your hand was in the potato chip bag or not. It was messy, but enlightening. We learned that it's energy draining to have to deal with diminished capacities. Reading lips when you can't hear properly is more exhausting then you'd ever imagine."

The accoutrements of the workshop closely resemble the Third Age Suit used by Ford Motor Co. to help young engineers get the feel for interacting with a car the way an older driver does. Ford's use of the Third Age Suit was featured in an article, "New Wheels for Grandma," in the April 2003 issue of Mechanical Engineering.

So What's Different?

The physiological changes that occur as a person ages are the ones that Curtis's team explored the most during the research project. "We know that people age at a different rate, so there is no 'typical' 70-year-old," Curtis said. "But we also know that there are certain physical changes that are virtually inevitable as you age."

Among them, Curtis said, are diminished vision, hearing, dexterity, flexibility, strength, and stamina.

Sensitivity to glare, decreased sensitivity to contrast, and presbyopia, or far-sightedness, are all vision problems experienced by older people. According to the National Institutes of Health, presbyopia is universal and begins to develop around the age of 45. That means it has already caught up to all the Baby Boomers.

Boeing team member Domenic Giuntoli suited up to simulate the sensory losses common in aging.

On the hearing front, upper frequencies pose a problem for older people. As they age, people suffer some degree of hearing loss. According to Alan Geldin, an audiologist in Niagara Falls, N.Y., the normal range of frequencies that adults hear is approximately 10 Hz to 18,000 Hz. Older people lose sensitivity to the upper registers and have a hearing falloff that can begin around 2,000 Hz. The pitches heard in human speech fall mostly between 300 and 3,000 Hz, he said.

Older people can suffer a decline in strength, as well. Sarcopenia, the loss of muscle mass, begins at an early age, often in the 30s. Without an effort to counteract it, the condition can result in debility by the time someone reaches senior citizenship. What's more, musculoskeletal problems, such as joint pain or stiffness, are typical of aging.

Dexterity and flexibility are equally affected by musculoskeletal problems. "The dexterity of an older person is about what you'd get if you put on a pair of leather work gloves and tried to go about your day," Curtis said. "It becomes next to impossible to perform fine sensory acts, like picking up pins."

People on crutches, or who use walkers, could navigate the entryway of the 7E7.

With the research results and information on the physiological effects of aging in hand, Curtis's team was ready to turn its focus to addressing the problems. "We know that Baby Boomers are very familiar with airplanes and know how to use them, so we didn't need to address the cognitive aspects of design," she said. "Instead, we needed to come up with ways of making the existing cabin design easier for older travelers, as well as the general population, to use."

Lighting ranked high on the things that need improvement in the average plane cabin, according to Curtis. "The lighting on planes is totally inadequate in many ways," she said. "At the seats, we need to add brighter lighting, make it adjustable in terms of brightness, so it's appropriate for reading and other activities, and move it down to eye-level," she said. Currently, lights shine down from above the seats. The placement casts shadows—which can make it tougher for people with visual impairments to see, let alone read.

The aisles also need better illumination. Again, shadows pose a big problem here. "Older people with visual impairments see shadows as objects they need to step over," Curtis said. "That increases the likelihood that they'll trip." Raised areas under carpets, thresholds that aren't level with the floor, and the narrowness of aisles also pose a tripping hazard. "Ideally, it would be great if the aisles were wide enough to accommodate someone on crutches. That would ensure that someone with a cane or a walker could also pass," Curtis said.

Curtis's team spent some time in a mock-up of an airplane cabin at the Payload Concept Center, and noticed that everything in the plane is dark. "The seats are dark gray. The floor, the tray table are all dark colors," she said. "It's no wonder everyone spills their drinks. Imagine how much worse it would be if you had trouble seeing contrast." Improved lighting would help this situation, but it would also take a change in the palette to make it easier to distinguish one object from another.

The 7E7 design team is considering some of the issues related to the changing passenger profile.

The seating area in general poses a problem for all passengers, especially for older ones. "The temperature on the plane is never comfortable," Curtis said. "Chances are, if you're too hot, your seat mate is too cold." And although most plane cabins offer overhead fans, their height makes them difficult for most people to adjust once they're belted in and seated. Heated and cooled seats, with personal controls at each seat, would greatly improve passenger comfort, according to Curtis.

Seat belts, tray table controls, and even the button for reclining the seat all pose a problem, as well. "Seat belts are hard to operate for everyone. And no two planes seem to use exactly the same approach," Curtis said. Her solution is to use seat belts that are more like those in cars, which tend to have an easily distinguishable button, don't require much strength or dexterity to operate, and have the added advantage of a familiar form.

Seat back pockets could also stand to be improved. "Everyone has a horror story about leaving something important, like their glasses, behind on a plane," Curtis said. "If you can't see what's in that pocket, your memory isn't that good, and you're stressed, chances are excellent that you're getting off the plane without some item you really need." Her proposed solution is to replace seat back pockets with cargo net bags, which would provide a clear view of whatever's inside.

Ford's Third Age Suit helps engineers analyze an older person's maneuverability.

While all these improvements would make seating areas more comfortable for passengers, there's something that ranks even higher on Curtis's list of necessary improvements: the addition of assist handles. "Nothing is more annoying then having someone grab the seat back you're using in order to get up. Either they yank it back, or grab your hair in the process of trying to get their feet under their center of gravity so they can stand," she said. Her team recommends the addition of a handle to the leg of the seat, which would be independent of the seat itself, so as not to disturb the passenger in front of you. She'd also equip seating areas with someplace for people to safely stow a cane, something that currently must be stored in the overhead bin.

Some perpetual problem areas, like stowage and the lavatories, are harder to improve upon. "There simply is no good answer for stowage," Curtis said. "The overhead bins are a constant source of complaint for passengers and crew. We could make them easier to open, but they'll still be too high for many people to use effectively. And there isn't any place else to move that stowage to."

Ideally, lavatories should be bigger, Curtis said. But that isn't likely to happen when seating space is at a premium. The next best thing would be to make better use of the space with the addition of features like automatic faucets and flushing, a dry shelf with a raised lip for placing medication on, and better lighting.

What's Next?

Curtis and her team presented their findings and their recommendations to Boeing design engineers. The research proved to be "eye-opening for them, especially for the 35-year-olds," Curtis said.

While Boeing hasn't issued any formal design guidelines to address the changing passenger profile, engineers have expressed interest in the idea, according to Curtis. There also is a team in place to consider some of these issues in the design of the 7E7 Dreamliner. Boeing promises that plane will be more "passenger-friendly," and will include higher humidity levels in the cabin to avoid dehydration, innovative lighting, wider seats and aisles, bigger overhead bins, and bigger windows, among other improvements.

The lighting in current-generation airplanes is inadequate for many older travelers.

Curtis is continuing with her research, and has a member of the Ford Motor Co. team bringing the Third Age Suit to the Payload Concept Center for her team to try out. Her team and a team from Ford are looking for ways to collaborate on further research into design guidelines for an aging population. Curtis said she learned about Ford's efforts in the field, and the Third Age Suit, through the article in Mechanical Engineering.


Her expectation is that further research will help refine Boeing's understanding of the needs of its future passengers, and will help the company formulate official design guidelines to make travel less stressful and more user-friendly for all passengers, especially for the older ones.

Design for the Ages James Joseph Pirkl believes that good design, no matter the industry, is accommodating design. Pirkl, widely viewed as the father of transgenerational design, believes that it's possible to create products that can be used by anyone, regardless of age or ability. "We're entering a phase where there will be more people age 65 and older in the U.S. than the combined population of New York City, London, and Moscow," Pirkl said. "There are 50 million people with some form of disability in this country alone, whether it's temporary or permanent; and one person in five needs some sort of accommodation." Pirkl is the executive director of Transgenerational Design Matters, a nonprofit research and education organization in Placitas, N.M., devoted to helping companies research, design, evaluate, and promote consumer products and residential environments that accommodate—and appeal to—the widest range of ages and abilities. Transgenerational Design Matters has consulted with Boeing and Ford Motor Co., and has conducted seminars and lectures for a host of universities and design centers around the world. Pirkl believes that education is the first step in destigmatizing design for an aging population. "The goal isn't to develop specialized add-on devices, but rather to design products that work for all ages. We have to expand the list of those who could benefit from our designs to include the young, the old, the able, the disabled—without penalty to any group. We also have to get away from the idea that inclusive design comes at a premium. There should be no difference in cost between a product that works for all and a product that only works for a few." At its most basic, inclusive design should strive to create products that are safe, comfortable, convenient, and easy to use, Pirkl said. Among the biggest violators of these precepts are instructions that are confusing or unreadable; handles that can't be easily grasped; controls that are difficult to manipulate; doors that are too difficult to open and close; floors that are slippery or uneven; and shelves that are too high or too low to be easily reached. "A fire extinguisher, bathroom fixture, microwave oven, or wireless phone should be easy to use for everyone from an arthritic septuagenarian, to a teenager with a sprained wrist, a Baby Boomer in a wheelchair, or a 20-something pregnant housewife with poor eyesight," Pirkl said. "Making a product easy to use for that range of people doesn't have to mean making it awkward to use for people without limitations." Pirkl has established a series of generic design guidelines that can help designers develop products that are flexible enough to lend accommodation and support for all ages and abilities. Some of the recommendations are to provide cross-sensory redundant cuing for all alarms, signals, and controls, such as using both an audio signal and a visual indicator; to establish consistent display/motion relationships, so that forward and up, for example, are always used to increase volume; provide definitive feedback cues, such as control detents that snap into position, and to place critical, frequently used controls within easiest reach and to arrange them by order of priority. The full list of design guidelines is available at www.transgenerational.org. As a proof that his theories work, Pirkl designed and built a cutting-edge transgenerational house, where he and his wife now live. The 2,700-square-foot house was based on the premise that accessible housing doesn't have to look institutional. The one-level contemporary design uses off-the-shelf appliances and fixtures to create a livable environment that looks as good as it works. Some of the design features include pocket doors rather than swing doors, to accommodate people in wheelchairs as well as those who may have difficulty grasping doorknobs or lack the strength to pull a door; level thresholds, wide hallways, and open spaces that measure 5 feet in diameter—the turning radius of a wheelchair; and multiple counter heights in the kitchen, to accommodate tall and short people comfortably. Cork flooring in the kitchen offers lots of cushioning, so it's more comfortable for people to stand on for long periods of time—something that any serious cook can appreciate. Appliances use redundant cuing, so that whenever the oven timer rings, an alert light also flashes. It's an accommodation that most people aren't likely to even notice. That's the point of the house, according to Pirkl. It's an environment that has many design features that just make sense from a comfort and usability perspective, no matter how young or old the user. "We all want to be comfortable and safe in our home. We're just trying to prove that it's possible for a range of people, without a lot of special accommodations," Pirkl said. — Gayle Ehrenman

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© 2005 by The American Society of Mechanical Engineers