Literature Reviews

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

• ElectroGrasp: Electrotactile Aids for Visually Impaired Individuals in Anticipatory Planning and Control of Grasp

  Hechuan Zhang, Rufei Song, Ruoyan Liu, Shengsheng Jiang, Xiaohui Tan, Tianren Luo, Yulin Jin, Hongnan Lin, Teng Han, Feng Tian (2026) — Proceedings of the 2026 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI '26)

  Sighted people pre-shape their hand before touching an object - a visually-driven anticipatory grasp plan that visually impaired (VI) users cannot form, leading to the characteristic 'double grip' (initial contact followed by compensatory regrasp) th…

  • blind and low vision
  • electrotactile feedback
  • haptic technology
  • assistive technology
  • wearable technology
  • spatial perception
  • grasping
  • proprioception
  • sensory substitution
  • motor control
  • cross-modal plasticity

• Affective Wearable Haptic Interventions: A Systematic Literature Review

  Jueun Lee, Tobias Röddiger, Sarah Makarem, Till Riedel, Kai Kunze, Michael Beigl (2026) — Proceedings of the ACM on Interactive, Mobile, Wearable and Ubiquitous Technologies

  This systematic literature review synthesises 83 empirical studies on affective wearable haptic interventions published between 2010 and 2025, drawn from 1,098 articles identified in ACM Digital Library and IEEE Xplore. The review maps the design spa…

  • haptic technology
  • wearable technology
  • affective computing
  • mental well-being
  • emotion regulation
  • vibrotactile feedback
  • biofeedback
  • stress reduction
  • social touch
  • systematic review
  • HCI
  • accessibility

• Touchable Online Braille Generator

  Wooseob Jeong (2005) — Proceedings of the 7th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (Assets '05)

  This short paper from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee presents a prototype online Braille generator that uses consumer force feedback mouse technology to make web text tactilely accessible to blind and visually impaired users. The system takes …

  • braille
  • force feedback
  • haptic technology
  • visual impairment
  • web accessibility
  • assistive technology
  • low-cost accessibility

• Memory Enhancement through Audio

  Jaime Sánchez, Héctor Flores (2004) — Proceedings of the 6th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (Assets 04)

  This paper presents AudioMemory, a virtual environment based on audio designed to develop and enhance short-term memory in blind children, along with AudioMath, an extension that applies the same model to mathematics learning. Developed at the Univer…

  • blindness and low vision
  • children
  • audio
  • cognitive development
  • education
  • virtual acoustic environment
  • spatialized sound
  • mathematical accessibility
  • short-term memory
  • haptic technology
  • usability

• Cursor Measures for Motion-Impaired Computer Users

  Simeon Keates, Faustina Hwang, Patrick Langdon, P. John Clarkson, Peter Robinson (2002) — Proceedings of the Fifth International ACM Conference on Assistive Technologies (Assets '02)

  This paper systematically analyses cursor movement patterns of motion-impaired computer users to understand the specific difficulties they face with point-and-click interactions in graphical user interfaces. The authors argue that existing cursor mea…

  • motor disability
  • pointing device
  • cursor control
  • target acquisition
  • force feedback
  • cerebral palsy
  • ataxia
  • haptic technology
  • user research
  • interaction design
  • Fitts's Law

• Multimodal Virtual Reality Versus Printed Medium in Visualization for Blind People

  Wai Yu, Stephen Brewster (2002) — Proceedings of the Fifth International ACM Conference on Assistive Technologies (Assets '02)

  This paper presents a comparative evaluation of two approaches for making bar chart data accessible to blind and visually impaired people: traditional raised tactile diagrams and a multimodal virtual reality system. The VR system combines a SensAble …

  • data visualization
  • blindness and low vision
  • haptic technology
  • virtual reality
  • tactile graphics
  • multimodal interaction
  • sonification
  • force feedback
  • non-visual interaction

• Design and Implementation of Virtual Environments for Training of the Visually Impaired

  D. Tzovaras, G. Nikolakis, G. Fergadis, S. Malasiotis, M. Stavrakis (2002) — Proceedings of the Fifth International ACM Conference on Assistive Technologies (Assets '02)

  This paper from the Informatics and Telematics Institute in Greece presents the ENORASI project, an EU-funded initiative to develop a haptic virtual reality training system for blind and visually impaired people. The system uses a CyberGrasp haptic g…

  • haptic technology
  • virtual reality
  • blindness and low vision
  • training
  • orientation and mobility
  • spatial cognition
  • force feedback
  • spatial audio
  • accessible graphics

• A Virtual Reality-Based Exercise Program for Stroke Rehabilitation

  David Jack, Rares Boian, Alma Merians, Sergei V. Adamovich, Marilyn Tremaine, Michael Recce, Grigore C. Burdea, Howard Poizner (2000) — Proceedings of the Fourth International ACM Conference on Assistive Technologies (Assets '00)

  This paper from Rutgers University presents a PC-based desktop virtual reality system designed to rehabilitate hand function in stroke patients. Stroke is identified as the leading cause of adult disability, with 65% of the nearly four million stroke…

  • virtual reality
  • stroke recovery
  • rehabilitation
  • haptic technology
  • force feedback
  • motor accessibility
  • motor control
  • game accessibility
  • adaptive systems
  • assistive technology

• Constructing Sonified Haptic Line Graphs for the Blind Student: First Steps

  Rameshsharma Ramloll, Wai Yu, Stephen Brewster, Beate Riedel, Mike Burton, Gisela Dimigen (2000) — Proceedings of the Fourth International ACM Conference on Assistive Technologies (Assets '00)

  This paper presents early research from the University of Glasgow's MultiVis project, a three-year initiative investigating how different sensory modalities can make statistical information representations accessible to blind people. The focus is on …

  • data visualization
  • sonification
  • haptic technology
  • blindness and low vision
  • tactile graphics
  • force feedback
  • education
  • spatial audio
  • multimodal
  • STEM accessibility

• TGuide: A Guidance System for Tactile Image Exploration

  Martin Kurze (1998) — Proceedings of the Third International ACM Conference on Assistive Technologies (Assets '98)

  This paper presents TGuide, a system that actively guides blind users' hands during exploration of tactile graphics using a novel vibrotactile directional output device. The author identifies three key problems with unaided tactile image exploration:…

  • tactile graphics
  • blind and low vision
  • vibrotactile display
  • haptic technology
  • directional guidance
  • image accessibility
  • assistive technology
  • tactile image exploration