Literature Reviews

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

• Improvements in Vision-based Pointer Control

  Rick Kjeldsen (2006) — Proceedings of the 8th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (Assets '06)

  This paper presents the HeadTracking Pointer (HTP), a vision-based head tracking system developed at IBM's T.J. Watson Research Center that uses a standard webcam to allow people with motor disabilities to control a computer pointer through head move…

  • head tracking
  • pointer control
  • computer vision
  • assistive technology
  • motor disabilities
  • cerebral palsy
  • face tracking
  • alternative input

• A Tool for Creating Eye-Aware Applications that Adapt to Changes in User Behavior

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

  This paper from Stanford University's Archimedes Project presents the Black Squirrel Eye Interpretation Engine, a development tool for creating eye-aware software applications that adapt in real-time to changes in a user's natural eye-movement behavi…

  • eye tracking
  • gaze interaction
  • eye-controlled interface
  • adaptive interface
  • ALS
  • motor disabilities
  • on-screen keyboard
  • Midas Touch problem
  • assistive technology

• SUITEKeys: A Speech Understanding Interface for the Motor-Control Challenged

  Bill Manaris, Alan Harkreader (1998) — Proceedings of the Third International ACM Conference on Assistive Technologies (Assets '98)

  This paper from the University of Southwestern Louisiana presents SUITEKeys, a continuous speech understanding interface that provides complete computer access to users with motor-control impairments by modelling all interaction at the physical keybo…

  • speech recognition
  • motor disabilities
  • voice input
  • alternative input
  • natural language interface
  • keyboard emulation
  • mouse emulation
  • assistive technology

• Face Tracking User Interfaces Using Vision-Based Consumer Devices

  Norman H. Villaroman (2012) — Proceedings of the 14th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS '12)

  This short paper investigates the design and implementation of face tracking user interfaces built with consumer-grade vision and depth-sensing devices, specifically the Microsoft Kinect. The research addresses the needs of users who cannot effective…

  • face tracking
  • head tracking
  • assistive technology
  • alternative input
  • depth sensing
  • Kinect
  • motor disabilities
  • perceptual user interface

• Nonverbal Communication through Expressive Objects

  Stephanie Valencia, Mark Steidl, Michael L. Rivera, Cynthia L. Bennett, Jeffrey P. Bigham, Henny Admoni (2023) — Communications of the ACM

  This paper explores how physical motion through an expressive object — a "sidekick" — can support nonverbal communication for augmented communicators (ACs) who use AAC devices. The work centres on Mark, a co-author with cerebral palsy who has used AA…

  • AAC
  • augmentative and alternative communication
  • cerebral palsy
  • nonverbal communication
  • co-design
  • participatory design
  • assistive technology
  • motor disabilities
  • turn-taking

• Text Entry Using Single-Channel Analog Puff Input

  Adam J. Sporka (2014) — Proceedings of the 16th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers & Accessibility (ASSETS 2014)

  This short demonstration paper presents a prototype text entry system that repurposes a single-channel analog puff input device — specifically the AKAI EWI USB, a MIDI controller designed for woodwind instrument emulation — as an assistive technology…

  • sip-and-puff
  • text entry
  • assistive technology
  • motor disabilities
  • alternative input
  • scanning
  • MIDI
  • analog input

• Conception and Experimentation of a Communication Device with Adaptive Scanning

  Souhir Ghedira, Pierre Pino, Guy Bourhis (2009) — ACM Transactions on Accessible Computing (TACCESS)

  This paper presents an adaptive algorithm for optimizing scanning delay (Tscan) in switch-operated AAC devices, addressing one of the fundamental challenges in scanning-based communication: finding the right balance between speed and error rate. For …

  • AAC
  • scanning
  • switch access
  • motor disabilities
  • adaptive systems
  • human-computer interaction
  • ALS

• Assessing Fit of Nontraditional Assistive Technologies

  Adriane B. Randolph, Melody M. Moore Jackson (2010) — ACM Transactions on Accessible Computing

  This paper addresses a critical gap in assistive technology: how to systematically match users who have severe motor disabilities with nontraditional assistive technologies (NTATs) that use physiological signals rather than physical movement for comp…

  • brain-computer interface
  • assistive technology
  • motor disabilities
  • ALS
  • locked-in syndrome
  • user profiling
  • fNIR
  • GSR

• Investigating Grid-Based Navigation: The Impact of Physical Disability

  Shaojian Zhu, Jinjuan Feng, Andrew Sears (2010) — ACM Transactions on Accessible Computing

  This paper investigates enhancements to grid-based navigation, a speech-controlled cursor technique designed for people who cannot use traditional keyboard and mouse input due to upper-body motor disabilities. Grid-based navigation works by recursive…

  • motor disabilities
  • speech recognition
  • cursor control
  • target selection
  • alternative input
  • aging

• Fast Human-Computer Interaction by Combining Gaze Pointing and Face Gestures

  David Rozado, Jason Niu, Martin Lochner (2017) — ACM Transactions on Accessible Computing

  This paper presents FaceSwitch, an open-source multimodal accessibility system that combines eye gaze tracking for cursor positioning with facial gesture recognition for triggering actions. The system addresses limitations of existing gaze-based inte…

  • eye tracking
  • gaze interaction
  • face tracking
  • facial gestures
  • motor disabilities
  • multimodal interaction
  • alternative input
  • open source
  • assistive technology