Subjective Assessment of the Ergonomic Quality of a Keyboard for Vdu-Workplaces

Abstract

At an ergonomically optimized VDU-workstation, a group of 10 test subjects (Ss) carried out a test task, i.e., typing both at the test keyboard and a reference keyboard. The participants' personal subjective assessments concerning the working conditions with the two keyboards and the layout of the ergonomic model were recorded via specially designed questionnaires. They were given prior to and after the working tests and, therefore, reflected ratings without and with working experience. The posture of the hand, the lower and the upper arm, and the shoulder during text input were evaluated quite differently as a consequence of using the two keyboards. The working posture associated with the conventional keyboard was never assessed positively. The ratings always reached positive values when operating the ergonomic model. The handling of the keyboard and the overall impression were also in favor of the test model with increasing and decreasing values, respectively, for the two keyboards as a result of the working tests. Comfort and effort while typing at the keyboards also differed very clearly and were in favor of the test keyboard. Similar was true for altogether 10 items of the questionnaire aimed at evaluating details of the ergonomic keyboard and its overall appearance.