Literature Reviews

Reviewed research papers, articles, and publications relevant to digital accessibility.

• Social Play Between Deaf and Hard of Hearing Children and Hearing Peers: Learning from Children and School Ecosystems

  Jing Zhao, Isabel Neto, Michaela Okosi, Paulo Vaz de Carvalho, Hugo Nicolau (2026) — Proceedings of the 2026 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI '26)

  This CHI 2026 paper investigates how Deaf and Hard of Hearing (DHH) children and their hearing peers engage in social play on school playgrounds, and how the surrounding school ecosystem shapes those interactions. The authors frame the work with Bron…

  • deaf and hard of hearing
  • DHH children
  • social play
  • school ecosystem
  • peer culture
  • child agency
  • field study
  • bilingual education
  • deaf culture
  • inclusive education
  • sign language
  • cochlear implant
  • hearing aid

• Reimagining Sign Language Technologies: Analyzing Translation Work of Chinese Deaf Online Content Creators

  Xinru Tang, Anne Marie Piper (2026) — Proceedings of the 2026 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI '26)

  Tang and Piper investigate the translation practices of thirteen deaf Chinese online content creators who produce sign language videos for Kuaishou, Bilibili, Douyin, WeChat, and Xiaohongshu, reaching audiences that range from thousands to nearly a q…

  • sign language
  • deaf accessibility
  • sign language translation
  • content creators
  • translanguaging
  • Chinese Sign Language
  • deaf culture
  • AI accessibility
  • multimodal communication
  • video accessibility

• Sign Language Interfaces: Discussing the Field's Biggest Challenges

  Danielle Bragg, Meredith Ringel Morris, Christian Vogler, Raja Kushalnagar, Matt Huenerfauth, Hernisa Kacorri (2020) — Extended Abstracts of the 2020 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI EA '20)

  This CHI 2020 Special Interest Group (SIG) meeting paper (5 pages) is an organising document rather than a conventional research paper. It convenes HCI and accessibility researchers working on sign-language interfaces around the five calls-to-action …

  • sign language
  • deaf and hard of hearing
  • deaf culture
  • american sign language
  • research methodology
  • datasets
  • accessibility research
  • participatory design

• Deaf Users' Preferences Among Wake-Up Approaches during Sign-Language Interaction with Personal Assistant Devices

  Vaishnavi Mande, Abraham Glasser, Becca Dingman, Matt Huenerfauth (2021) — Extended Abstracts of the 2021 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI EA '21)

  This CHI 2021 Extended Abstract investigates a narrow but previously unexplored question: if future personal-assistant devices (Alexa, Google Assistant, etc.) could recognise sign language, how should Deaf users wake them up? Current wake-up mechanis…

  • deaf and hard of hearing
  • sign language
  • personal assistants
  • voice interface
  • conversational user interfaces
  • american sign language
  • deaf culture
  • privacy
  • qualitative research

• ASL Educators' Perspectives on AI for Enhancing Student Learning in American Sign Language Education

  Saad Hassan, Laleh Nourian, Caluã de Lacerda Pataca, Michelle M Olson, Toni D'aurio, Kanupriya Agarwal, Syeda Mah Noor Asad, Garreth W. Tigwell, Matt Huenerfauth (2026) — CHI '26: Proceedings of the 2026 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems

  This CHI 2026 paper from a multi-institution US team (Tulane, Rochester Institute of Technology, Birmingham City University) investigates how AI could support American Sign Language (ASL) education — and centres, for the first time in this literature…

  • American Sign Language
  • ASL
  • sign language education
  • deaf educators
  • AI in education
  • signing avatars
  • conversational agents
  • feedback tools
  • deaf culture
  • generative AI
  • educator perspectives
  • higher education

• A Web-Based User Survey for Evaluating Power Saving Strategies for Deaf Users of MobileASL

  Jessica J. Tran, Tressa W. Johnson, Joy Kim, Rafael Rodriguez, Sheri Yin, Eve A. Riskin, Richard E. Ladner, Jacob O. Wobbrock (2010) — Proceedings of the 12th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS 2010)

  This paper presents research on power-saving video compression algorithms for MobileASL, a project enabling real-time, two-way video communication on mobile phones so Deaf people can communicate in American Sign Language. Running video calls drains p…

  • deaf and hard of hearing
  • sign language
  • American Sign Language
  • mobile technology
  • video compression
  • video communication
  • battery life
  • accessible survey design
  • deaf culture

• Exploring the Performance of Facial Expression Recognition Technologies on Deaf Adults and Their Children

  Irene Rogan Shaffer (2018) — Proceedings of the 20th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS 2018)

  This Boston University student research paper investigates how commercial facial expression recognition services perform on Deaf ASL signers and Children of Deaf Adults (CODAs) compared to hearing non-signers. The study is motivated by a critical pro…

  • deaf and hard of hearing
  • sign language
  • facial expression recognition
  • emotion recognition
  • AI fairness
  • algorithmic bias
  • computer vision
  • ASL
  • CODA
  • deaf culture

• Designing an Animated Character System for American Sign Language

  Danielle Bragg, Raja Kushalnagar, Richard Ladner (2018) — Proceedings of the 20th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS 2018)

  This University of Washington and Gallaudet University paper introduces the first animated character system prototype for sign language, addressing the fundamental problem that sign languages — used by approximately 70 million people worldwide as the…

  • sign language
  • deaf accessibility
  • ASL
  • writing systems
  • animation
  • literacy
  • participatory design
  • deaf culture
  • character systems

• Multimedia dictionary of American Sign Language

  Sherman Wilcox, Joanne Scheibman, Doug Wood, Dennis Cokely, William C. Stokoe (1994) — Proceedings of the First Annual ACM Conference on Assistive Technologies (Assets '94)

  This paper describes the Multimedia Dictionary of American Sign Language (MM-DASL), a Macintosh application functioning as a bilingual ASL-English dictionary that presents signs in full-motion digital video using Apple's QuickTime technology. The pro…

  • sign language
  • deaf accessibility
  • multimedia
  • dictionary
  • American Sign Language
  • digital video
  • linguistics
  • deaf culture
  • literacy

• Sonic Agency: A Group Autoethnography of Technology-mediated Performance Practice by Deaf and Hard of Hearing Musicians

  Doga Cavdir, Dillon Simone, Myles de Bastion, Shawn Trail, Nate Hergert (2025) — ASSETS 2025: 27th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility

  This paper presents a 15-month group autoethnography conducted by a mixed-hearing team of five researchers and musicians affiliated with CymaSpace, a Deaf-owned music and culture institution in Portland, Oregon. The study examines how d/Deaf and Hard…

  • deaf and hard of hearing
  • musical accessibility
  • autoethnography
  • haptic feedback
  • assistive music technology
  • sensory substitution
  • creative practice
  • deaf culture