Glossary

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

15 results found in Multimodal.

Cross-Modal Perception (Multisensory perception, Cross-modal integration)
The neural and perceptual integration of information arriving through two or more sensory channels — such as vision, hearing, touch, and proprioception — into a coherent experience of the world. Cross…
Cross-modal Congruency
The temporal, spatial, and semantic alignment of sensory cues during an interaction — for example, a visual event and its accompanying sound occurring at the same moment and in the same location, with…
Embodied Conversational Agent (ECA, Virtual Agent, Animated Agent)
A computer-generated animated character designed to interact with human users using multiple simultaneous communication channels — typically speech, eye gaze, facial expression, head and body posture,…
Haptic Design (Vibrotactile Design, Haptic Authoring)
The practice of authoring haptic feedback - typically vibrations, forces, or temperature cues - so that it conveys intended meaning, emotion, or synchronicity with other media. Haptic design involves …
Information Perceptualization (Perceptualization)
Information perceptualization is the mapping of abstract data or information onto perceptual properties across multiple sensory modalities — vision, hearing, touch, and occasionally taste or smell — i…
Intermedia (Intermedia Representation)
Intermedia refers to a framework for information representation that supports diverse, adaptable, and flexible presentation modes, allowing the same content to be accessed through multiple alternative…
Modality (Interaction Modality, Interface Modality)
The sensory channel or communication method through which a user interacts with a computer system, such as visual (graphical displays), auditory (speech or non-speech audio), tactile (braille, haptic …
Multimodal Cueing
Multimodal cueing is the simultaneous or selectable use of two or more sensory channels - typically visual, auditory, and somatosensory (vibrotactile) - to guide motor behaviour during rehabilitation …
Multimodal Natural Language Generation (Multimodal NLG)
Natural language generation systems that produce output coordinated across more than one modality — typically combinations of text or speech with graphics, maps, animation, gesture, or tactile output.…
Multisensory Integration
The neural and perceptual process by which the brain combines information from different sensory modalities — sight, hearing, touch, proprioception — into a unified percept. Integration relies on temp…
Multisensory Interaction (Multisensory HCI)
Multisensory interaction is an HCI research area concerned with designing and studying systems that engage two or more human senses - sight, hearing, touch, smell, taste, proprioception - simultaneous…
Olfactory Display (Olfactory Interface, Olfactory Feedback, Smell Display, Scent Display)
An olfactory display is a hardware system that delivers controlled scent stimuli to a user, typically as part of a virtual reality, augmented reality, or multisensory interaction system. Designs range…
Put That There (Put-That-There)
A pioneering multimodal interactive system built at MIT's Architecture Machine Group (1979-1980), reported by Bolt (1980) and further developed by Schmandt and Hulteen (1982). Users seated in a 'media…
Redundant Input (Redundant Input Channels, Multimodal Redundancy)
A design approach in which a user interface accepts the same command through more than one input channel — for example, voice and gesture, keyboard and pointer, or speech and switch — so that users ca…
Semantic Redundancy (Redundant Multimodal Input)
A design strategy in multimodal interfaces where the same command or message is conveyed simultaneously through multiple input channels, each independently signalling the user's intent. For example, a…