Glossary
Searchable terminology from accessibility, web standards, and related fields.
899 results found in Assistive Technology.
- Skilled Vision (Vernacular Vision, Professional Vision)
- Skilled vision is a concept from visual culture and anthropology that describes the process of learning to see and interpret visual information in specialized ways within a particular community of pra…
- Skimming Interface (Skim Reading Tool, Speed Reading Interface)
- A technology interface designed to help users quickly scan and identify relevant content within a text without reading every word. Skimming interfaces have been particularly explored for blind and low…
- Skin Stretch Display (Skin Stretch, Lateral Skin Deformation Display, STReSS)
- A type of haptic display technology that produces tactile feedback by laterally stretching the skin of the user's fingertip, rather than using raised pins or vibration. Skin stretch displays typically…
- Smart Cane (Electronic Cane, Intelligent Cane)
- An enhanced version of the traditional white cane that incorporates electronic sensors — typically ultrasonic or infrared — to detect obstacles beyond the range of physical contact, providing haptic o…
- Smart Display (Smart Screen, Voice Assistant Display)
- A voice-controlled device that combines a smart speaker with a built-in touchscreen, enabling multimodal interaction through voice commands, visual output, and touch input. Examples include the Amazon…
- Smart Environment (Intelligent Environment, Smart Space)
- A physical space equipped with sensors, computing devices, and networked systems that can monitor conditions, infer context, and respond to the activities and needs of occupants. Smart environments ai…
- Smart Home Accessibility (Accessible Smart Home, Smart Home Automation)
- The design and implementation of connected home technologies — such as voice-controlled lighting, automated door locks, smart thermostats, and appliance controls — in ways that are usable by people wi…
- Smart Ring (Ring-Form Wearable)
- A wearable computing device worn on a finger, typically combining sensors (motion, biometric, or camera) and/or actuators (vibration, kinesthetic feedback) in a ring form factor. In accessibility, sma…
- Smartphone Accessibility (Mobile Phone Accessibility)
- The design and adaptation of smartphone hardware, operating systems, and applications to be usable by people with disabilities. Smartphones have become increasingly important as assistive technology p…
- Social Acceptability (Social Acceptance, Technology Stigma)
- The degree to which the use of an assistive technology or interaction technique is perceived as socially appropriate by both the user and those around them. Social acceptability is a critical but ofte…
- Social Marking (Stigma Marking, Social Visibility of Disability)
- In accessibility contexts, social marking refers to the way assistive technologies or accommodations can draw unwanted attention to a person's disability, making their impairment visible in social sit…
- Social Wayfinding (Social Navigation Assistance)
- Social wayfinding refers to the capacity to perceive and navigate the dynamics of a social scene, not just its physical layout. It covers identifying who is present, where they are oriented, whether t…
- Social robot (Socially assistive robot, Companion robot)
- A robot designed to interact and communicate with people in socially meaningful ways, often through movement, sound, or simulated emotional expression. In accessibility contexts, social robots are use…
- Socially Assistive Robot (SAR, Social Robot)
- A robot designed to assist people through social interaction rather than physical manipulation. Socially assistive robots use embodied presence, movement, and social behaviors such as gaze, gestures, …
- Sociotechnical Systems (Sociotechnical Assemblage)
- A framework for understanding technology as inseparable from the social practices, institutions, power structures, and cultural norms in which it is embedded. In accessibility research, a sociotechnic…
- Soft Keyboard (On-screen Keyboard, Virtual Keyboard, OSK)
- A keyboard displayed on a screen that is operated by a pointing device (mouse, touch, head tracker, eye gaze, or switch) rather than physical key presses. Soft keyboards are essential assistive techno…
- Software Localization (L10n, Product Localization)
- The process of adapting software for use in a specific locale or market, encompassing not only translation of text but also adaptation of date formats, number systems, currency, cultural conventions, …
- Sound Awareness Technology (Sound Recognition Technology, Sound Notification System)
- Assistive technology systems that detect, classify, and communicate environmental sounds to deaf and hard of hearing users through visual, haptic, or text-based notifications. Examples include smartph…
- Sound Event Detection (Audio Tagging, Automatic Sound Recognition)
- A machine learning technique that automatically identifies and classifies sounds within an audio stream, such as music, applause, laughter, environmental noises, and other non-speech audio events. In …
- Sound Recognition (Sound Classification, Audio Event Detection, Environmental Sound Recognition)
- Technology that automatically identifies and classifies sounds in a user's environment, typically using machine learning models trained on audio datasets. In accessibility contexts, sound recognition …