Literature Reviews

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

• Designing a Generative AI-Assisted Music Psychotherapy Tool for Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing Individuals

  Youjin Choi, JaeYoung Moon, JinYoung Yoo, Jennifer G. Kim, Jin-Hyuk Hong (2026) — Proceedings of the 2026 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI '26)

  Choi and colleagues designed, built, and evaluated a generative-AI music psychotherapy tool co-designed with licensed Korean music therapists for deaf and hard-of-hearing (DHH) users. The work is motivated by the observation that music psychotherapy …

  • music therapy
  • deaf accessibility
  • DHH
  • generative AI
  • conversational agent
  • songwriting
  • mental health
  • cochlear implant
  • LLM
  • co-design
  • multimodal
  • HCI

• The EasyCog Dataset: Towards Easier Cognitive Assessment with Passive Video Watching

  Qingyong Hu, Yuxuan Zhou, Jinjian Wang, Yanbin Gong, Yizhen Zhang, Jingnan Sun, Jian Yao, Qijia Shao, Lili Qiu, Qian Zhang, Guihua Li (2026) — Proceedings of the ACM on Interactive, Mobile, Wearable and Ubiquitous Technologies

  This paper introduces EasyCog, the first large-scale multimodal dataset designed for low-burden, low-cost cognitive assessment using passive visual engagement. The core motivation is to address well-documented limitations of standard clinical cogniti…

  • cognitive accessibility
  • cognitive assessment
  • EEG
  • eye tracking
  • dementia
  • aging
  • Alzheimer's disease
  • Parkinson's disease
  • wearable technology
  • assistive technology
  • machine learning
  • multimodal

• Sasayaki: Augmented Voice Web Browsing Experience

  Daisuke Sato, Shaojian Zhu, Masatomo Kobayashi, Hironobu Takagi, Chieko Asakawa (2011) — Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI '11)

  This paper introduces Sasayaki (Japanese for 'whisper'), a prototype that augments the standard screen-reader voice with a second, physically separated synthesised voice that whispers contextually relevant hints — for example 'entering main content',…

  • screen readers
  • auditory interface
  • voice browser
  • web accessibility
  • blindness and low vision
  • non-visual interaction
  • assistive technology
  • multimodal
  • speech technology

• Developing usable CAPTCHAs for blind users

  Jonathan Holman, Jonathan Lazar, Jinjuan Heidi Feng, John D'Arcy (2007) — Proceedings of the 9th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS '07)

  This short ASSETS 2007 poster from a Towson University team led by Jonathan Lazar — joined by Jonathan Holman, Jinjuan Heidi Feng, and John D'Arcy of Notre Dame — addresses the long-standing accessibility problem that text-based CAPTCHAs (the distort…

  • CAPTCHA
  • audio CAPTCHA
  • blindness and low vision
  • screen readers
  • web accessibility
  • security
  • usability
  • universal usability
  • Turing test
  • visual impairment
  • multimodal
  • JAWS
  • Window-Eyes

• Haptic comparison of size (relative magnitude) in blind and sighted people

  Sarah A. Douglas, Shasta Willson (2007) — Proceedings of the 9th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (Assets '07)

  Douglas and Willson's Assets '07 paper is a controlled psychophysical study of how blind and sighted users compare relative magnitude using a PHANToM force-feedback device — the workhorse haptic input-output device of the era. The motivating problem …

  • haptics
  • visual impairment
  • blindness
  • multimodal
  • psychophysics
  • force feedback
  • vibration
  • sonification
  • accessibility evaluation
  • data visualisation

• Understanding Emotion through Multimedia: Comparison between Hearing-Impaired People and People with Hearing Abilities

  Rumi Hiraga, Nobuko Kato (2006) — Proceedings of the 8th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (Assets '06)

  This paper investigates how hearing-impaired and normal-hearing people recognise emotions conveyed through drum performances and accompanying visual stimuli. The research is part of a larger project to build a "performance enhancement machine" (PEM) …

  • hearing impairment
  • music accessibility
  • emotion recognition
  • multimodal
  • music visualisation
  • drum performance
  • inclusive design

• 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

• It's Hip to Be Square: A Tangible User Interface for Quadrilateral Learning

  Scott George Lambert, Adish Pawar, Taliesin L. Smith, Jennifer Tennison, Emily B. Moore, Jenna Gorlewicz (2025) — ACM Transactions on Accessible Computing

  This paper presents the Smart Quad, a tangible user interface (TUI) designed to make geometry learning accessible through physical manipulation of four-sided shapes. The Smart Quad pairs via Bluetooth with the PhET Quadrilateral Simulation, creating …

  • tangible user interface
  • TUI
  • blind and low vision
  • mathematics education
  • geometry
  • inclusive design
  • manipulatives
  • multimodal
  • sonification
  • embodied learning

• READ: A (Research) Platform for Evaluating Non-visual Access Methods to Digital Documents

  Laurent Sorin, Julie Lemarié, Mustapha Mojahid (2015) — ASSETS '15: Proceedings of the 17th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers & Accessibility

  READ (Documents Architecture REstitution) is a configurable research platform for evaluating alternative methods of non-visual access to digital documents. The system addresses a well-documented problem: despite extensive functionality, screen reader…

  • document accessibility
  • research platform
  • non-visual access
  • screen readers
  • text-to-speech
  • multimodal
  • auditory interface
  • spatialized audio
  • research tools

• GraSSML: Accessible Smart Schematic Diagrams for All

  Z. Ben Fredj, D. A. Duce (2006) — Proceedings of the 2006 International Cross-Disciplinary Workshop on Web Accessibility (W4A)

  This paper addresses a persistent gap in web accessibility: making schematic diagrams (organizational charts, flowcharts, UML diagrams, etc.) accessible to people who cannot perceive visual representations. While previous approaches tried to work "bo…

  • accessible graphics
  • SVG
  • semantic web
  • diagram accessibility
  • alternative representations
  • multimodal
  • visual impairment
  • data visualization