Glossary

Searchable terminology from accessibility, web standards, and related fields.

899 results found in Assistive Technology.

JAWS for Windows (JFW)
JAWS (Job Access With Speech) for Windows is a commercial screen reader from Freedom Scientific (now Vispero) that provides speech and braille output for blind and low-vision users on the Windows oper…
JSML (Java Speech Markup Language)
An XML-based markup language developed by Sun Microsystems that provides directives for controlling the output of speech synthesis engines. JSML allows developers to specify pronunciation details incl…
Key Acceptance Delay (Acceptance Delay, Key Debounce)
A keyboard accessibility setting that requires a key to be held down for a specified minimum duration before it is registered as a deliberate press. Keys released before the delay period expires are i…
Keyguard (Keyboard Guard, Key Guard)
A rigid cover that fits over a keyboard with holes aligned to each key, allowing users with motor impairments to rest their hands on the surface without accidentally pressing keys. Keyguards help peop…
Keystroke Saving (KS, Keystroke Reduction)
A metric used to evaluate word prediction and word completion systems, measuring the percentage of keystrokes that a user can avoid by accepting system predictions instead of typing each character ind…
Kinesthetic Feedback (Kinesthetic Haptics, Force Feedback)
A form of haptic feedback that engages the body’s sense of limb position, movement, and applied force — the kinesthetic sense mediated by receptors in muscles, tendons, and joints — rather than cutane…
Knee-Ankle-Foot Orthosis (KAFO)
A lower-limb orthosis that spans the knee, ankle, and foot to provide weight-bearing support and prevent knee buckling or hyperextension in people with significant leg weakness or paralysis - commonly…
Knowledge Base (KB, FAQ Database)
A knowledge base is a structured repository of information — typically questions, answers, articles, or how-to guides — that can be searched and browsed to find solutions to problems. In accessibility…
Landmark Navigation (Navigate by Landmarks, ARIA Landmark Navigation)
A screen reader navigation strategy that allows users to jump between major structural regions of a webpage defined by ARIA landmark roles (banner, navigation, main, complementary, contentinfo, search…
Landmark-Based Navigation (Landmark Navigation, Landmark-Based Wayfinding)
A wayfinding strategy that uses recognisable environmental features such as buildings, signs, or other prominent objects as reference points for giving directions, rather than relying solely on street…
Language Localization (L10N, Localization)
The process of adapting a product, application, or content for a specific language, culture, and region, including translation, cultural adaptation of imagery and symbols, currency and date formats, a…
Language Remediation (Language Therapy, Language Intervention)
Language remediation is the process of treating language disorders through structured intervention designed to improve a person's ability to understand and produce language. In the context of accessib…
Large multimodal model (LMM, Multimodal AI, Vision-language model)
An artificial intelligence model capable of processing and generating content across multiple modalities, such as text, images, and audio. Examples include GPT-4V and Gemini. In accessibility applicat…
Last Meter Problem (Last Mile Problem, Final Approach Problem)
In assistive technology for blind users, the challenge of bridging the gap between knowing an object exists and physically reaching or interacting with it. While object detection apps can identify wha…
Latency (Delay, Lag, Response Time)
The time delay between when an event occurs and when its accessible representation is delivered to the user. In real-time captioning, latency is the gap between spoken words and their appearance as te…
Leapfrog Technology (Leapfrogging)
The adoption of advanced or cutting-edge technology in contexts that skipped intermediate technological stages, bypassing legacy infrastructure to achieve modern capabilities directly. In assistive te…
Lecture Capture (Lecture Recording, Classroom Recording)
The process of recording classroom lectures, presentations, or educational sessions using video, audio, and screen capture technology for later review by students. Lecture capture systems range from s…
Lifelogging (Life Logging, Digital Lifelogging)
Lifelogging is the practice of automatically and continuously capturing data about a person's daily life using sensors, cameras, GPS, and other digital tools, typically worn or carried by the individu…
Linear Discriminant Analysis (Fisher Discriminant Analysis, Fisherfaces)
A statistical method used in pattern recognition and machine learning that finds a linear combination of features to best separate two or more classes of objects. In the context of face recognition, L…
Lingraphica
A commercially available computerized visual communication system designed to help people with aphasia communicate through icon-based sentence construction. Lingraphica provides a vocabulary of purpos…