Operating device, in particular for an electronic household appliance, comprising: a cover plate with a user-facing user side, the cover plate having a plurality of operating portions for defining a plurality of operating elements, the plurality of operating portions each being designed so that they are at least partially elastically deformable and/or movable by way of an action of force from the user side of the cover plate; at least one transmitter (16, 16n) for emitting electromagnetic radiation and at least one receiver (18, 18n) for detecting electromagnetic radiation (R1, R2), with each operating portion being designed so that it at least partially reflects the radiation emitted by the at least one transmitter (16, 16n), and the at least one receiver (18, 18n) is arranged and/or designed so that it enables a spatially resolved detection of the radiation (R1, R2) reflected by the operating portions; and control electronics for evaluating measurement signals produced by the at least one receiver (18, 18n), the control electronics detecting an actuation of the operating portions on the basis of a detection location of the reflected radiation (R1, R2), characterized in that a joint transmitter and a respective dedicated receiver or a joint receiver and a respective dedicated transmitter are provided for a plurality of the plurality of operating portions, with the plurality of dedicated receivers or the plurality of dedicated transmitters assigned to different operating portions being operated in clocked fashion by the control electronics in order to differentiate the actuations of the various operating portions from one another. a cover plate with a user-facing user side, the cover plate having a plurality of operating portions for defining a plurality of operating elements, the plurality of operating portions each being designed so that they are at least partially elastically deformable and/or movable by way of an action of force from the user side of the cover plate; at least one transmitter (16, 16n) for emitting electromagnetic radiation and at least one receiver (18, 18n) for detecting electromagnetic radiation (R1, R2), with each operating portion being designed so that it at least partially reflects the radiation emitted by the at least one transmitter (16, 16n), and the at least one receiver (18, 18n) is arranged and/or designed so that it enables a spatially resolved detection of the radiation (R1, R2) reflected by the operating portions; and control electronics for evaluating measurement signals produced by the at least one receiver (18, 18n), the control electronics detecting an actuation of the operating portions on the basis of a detection location of the reflected radiation (R1, R2), characterized in that a joint transmitter and a respective dedicated receiver or a joint receiver and a respective dedicated transmitter are provided for a plurality of the plurality of operating portions, with the plurality of dedicated receivers or the plurality of dedicated transmitters assigned to different operating portions being operated in clocked fashion by the control electronics in order to differentiate the actuations of the various operating portions from one another.