Glossary
Searchable terminology from accessibility, web standards, and related fields.
899 results found in Assistive Technology.
- Information Appliance (Smart Appliance, Dedicated Device)
- A computing device designed for a specific, well-defined purpose that is communication-oriented and easy to use, in contrast to a general-purpose computer. Information appliances typically have reduce…
- Information Rate (Throughput, Bandwidth)
- The amount of information successfully communicated per unit of time through a communication channel or interface, measured in bits per second. In HCI and assistive technology evaluation, information …
- Informed Consent
- The process by which individuals are provided with clear, understandable information about how their data will be collected, used, and shared, enabling them to make voluntary decisions about participa…
- Infrared (IR, Infrared Communication)
- A wireless communication technology that uses infrared light to transmit data over short distances, commonly used in assistive technology for line-of-sight data exchange between devices. In accessibil…
- Infrared Emitting Diode (IRED, IR LED, Infrared LED)
- A light-emitting diode that produces infrared radiation, used in assistive technology for motion tracking and position sensing. IREDs are commonly used in head-tracking systems, eye-tracking devices, …
- InftyReader (Infty Reader)
- A specialised optical character recognition (OCR) system designed to recognise mathematical expressions in scanned documents, developed by the Infty Project (Suzuki et al.). Unlike general-purpose OCR…
- Input Adaptation (Input Device Adaptation, Input Modality Adaptation)
- The process of automatically or manually modifying an application's user interface to work with input devices or methods it was not originally designed for. Input adaptation addresses the fact that mo…
- Instrumental Activities of Daily Living (IADLs)
- Complex everyday tasks that require higher-level cognitive and physical skills than basic self-care activities. IADLs include managing finances, shopping, meal preparation, housekeeping, laundry, usin…
- Integrated Control System (Integrated Control)
- An assistive technology approach where a single input device serves multiple control functions, such as wheelchair navigation, mouse cursor control, and text entry. Integrated control systems reduce t…
- Intelligent Home System (IHS, Smart Home System, Ambient Assisted Living System)
- A technology-enhanced living environment that uses sensors, actuators, and computing to monitor conditions and provide automated or voice-activated support for daily activities, particularly for older…
- Intelligent Virtual Assistant (IVA, Virtual Assistant, AI Assistant, Conversational Agent)
- A software-based agent that uses artificial intelligence, natural language processing, and speech recognition to understand and respond to human voice or text commands. Intelligent Virtual Assistants …
- Intelligent Wheelchair (Smart Wheelchair, Powered Wheelchair with Navigation Assistance)
- A powered wheelchair augmented with sensors, computing hardware, and software algorithms to provide navigation assistance, collision avoidance, or autonomous driving capabilities. Intelligent wheelcha…
- Interactive 3D Printed Model (I3M, Interactive Tactile Model)
- A 3D printed physical object augmented with technology that provides audio or other non-visual feedback when users touch or interact with specific areas. These models combine the tangible spatial info…
- Interactive Task Guidance (Task Guidance System, Step-by-Step Task Support, Task Prompting)
- Interactive task guidance is a form of cognitive assistive technology that provides real-time, step-by-step instructions to help individuals with cognitive impairments complete multi-step daily activi…
- Interactive Voice Response (IVR, Voice Response System)
- A telephony technology that allows users to interact with automated systems using voice commands or keypad input. IVR systems are particularly valuable for accessibility in low-income settings because…
- Interest-Based Personalisation (Interest-Based Customization, Special Interest Embedding)
- A software design strategy in which content, visuals, or activities are customised to reflect a user's personal interests or preferences in order to increase engagement and motivation. In the context …
- Intersection Detection (Junction detection, Corridor intersection recognition)
- A computer-vision or sensor-fusion technique used in indoor navigation systems for blind travellers to identify where two or more walkable corridors meet, so the navigation software can update the use…
- Intracortical BCI (iBCI, Intracortical Brain-Computer Interface)
- A brain-computer interface that records neural activity directly from inside the cerebral cortex, typically using surgically implanted microelectrode arrays such as the Utah array. Compared with non-i…
- Isotonic Joystick (Displacement Joystick, Free-Moving Joystick)
- An isotonic joystick is a type of joystick input device that moves freely in response to applied force and returns to a centre position when released. Unlike isometric (force-sensing) joysticks that r…
- Iterative Crowdsourcing (Iterative Human Computation, Multi-Round Crowdsourcing)
- A human computation workflow in which multiple rounds of crowd workers build iteratively upon each other's responses to collectively achieve higher quality results than any individual worker could pro…