Literature Reviews

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

• Open, Accurate, and Calibration-Free Muscle-Computer Interfaces

  Ethan Eddy, Evan Campbell, Erik J. Scheme, Scott Bateman (2026) — Proceedings of the 2026 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI '26)

  Eddy and colleagues tackle one of the long-standing barriers to practical muscle-computer interfaces (MCIs): that accurate, cross-user gesture recognition from forearm EMG has historically required either per-user calibration or access to closed data…

  • muscle-computer interface
  • electromyography
  • EMG
  • gesture recognition
  • machine learning
  • wearable technology
  • alternative input
  • myoelectric control
  • open source
  • prosthetics

• Grassroots Maker Perspectives on Participation in Do-It-Yourself Assistive Technology Development

  Saquib Sarwar, David Wilson, Khairul Mahbub (2026) — Proceedings of the 2026 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI '26)

  Sarwar, Wilson, and Mahbub interviewed 20 grassroots DIY assistive-technology (DIY-AT) makers in the U.S. between July 2021 and December 2023 to build a maker-centered account of the DIY-AT ecosystem. Participants were recruited from social media (Re…

  • DIY assistive technology
  • assistive technology
  • 3D printing
  • digital fabrication
  • makerspace
  • maker culture
  • occupational therapy
  • democratization
  • prosthetics
  • interdependence
  • qualitative research
  • open source

• Linux Screen Reader: Extensible Assistive Technology

  Peter Parente, Brett Clippingdale (2006) — Proceedings of the 8th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (Assets '06)

  This paper presents the Linux Screen Reader (LSR), an open source project from IBM that aimed to create a reusable, extensible development platform for building alternative and supplemental user interfaces on the GNOME desktop environment. Unlike con…

  • screen reader
  • Linux
  • open source
  • assistive technology
  • accessibility API
  • GNOME
  • extensibility
  • spatial audio
  • scripting

• A Flexible VXML Interpreter for Non-Visual Web Access

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

  This doctoral consortium paper from Stony Brook University presents VXMLSurf, an open-source VoiceXML interpreter being developed as part of the HearSay project for non-visual web browsing. VoiceXML is the W3C standard for specifying interactive voic…

  • VoiceXML
  • non-visual browsing
  • voice browser
  • blind users
  • screen readers
  • speech recognition
  • web accessibility
  • open source

• Emacspeak — Direct Speech Access

  T. V. Raman (1996) — Proceedings of the Second Annual ACM Conference on Assistive Technologies (Assets '96)

  This paper by T. V. Raman (then at Adobe Systems, developed while at Digital Equipment Corporation's Cambridge Research Lab) presents Emacspeak, a speech output subsystem for Emacs that provides what the author terms "direct speech access" to UNIX wo…

  • screen reader
  • speech output
  • blindness and low vision
  • UNIX accessibility
  • text-to-speech
  • Emacs
  • Linux accessibility
  • open source
  • software accessibility

• Naming Practice on an Open Platform for People with Aphasia

  Chris Benjamin, Jesse Harris, Alex Moncrief, Gail Ramsberger, Clayton Lewis (2008) — Proceedings of the 10th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (Assets '08)

  This paper presents Banga, a prototype software system built on the Android open-source mobile platform to deliver word finding practice — a form of speech-language therapy — to people with aphasia. Aphasia, a language disorder typically caused by st…

  • aphasia
  • naming practice
  • word finding
  • mobile health
  • Android
  • telerehabilitation
  • speech-language therapy
  • open source
  • assistive technology

• MySpeechWeb: software to facilitate the construction and deployment of speech applications on the web

  Richard A. Frost, Ali Karaki, David A. Dufour, Josh Greig, Rahmatullah Hafiz, Yue Shi, Shawn Daichendt, Shahriar Chandon, Justin Barolak, Randy J. Fortier (2008) — Proceedings of the 10th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (Assets '08)

  This short paper presents MySpeechWeb, an open-source platform for creating and deploying voice-in/voice-out speech applications on the web. The authors identify a significant gap: despite the potential of speech interfaces to improve web access for …

  • speech interfaces
  • voice interaction
  • web accessibility
  • open source
  • assistive technology
  • screen readers
  • natural language processing

• PlatMult: A Multisensory Platform with Web Accessibility Features for Low Vision Users

  Marcio Oyamada, Jorge Bidarra, Clodis Boscarioli (2013) — Proceedings of the 15th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS)

  This poster paper presents PlatMult, an integrated hardware and software platform that combines three sensory modalities — visual, auditory, and tactile — to improve web accessibility for low vision users. The authors note that screen magnifiers, the…

  • low vision
  • screen magnifier
  • screen reader
  • haptic feedback
  • multisensory
  • assistive technology
  • web accessibility
  • open source

• Crowd Caption Correction (CCC)

  Rebecca Perkins Harrington, Gregg C. Vanderheiden (2013) — Proceedings of the 15th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (Assets '13)

  This short paper presents Crowd Caption Correction (CCC), a feature that allows meeting participants or authorized third parties to correct errors in real-time captions during telecollaboration sessions. Captions are critical for deaf and hard of hea…

  • captioning
  • deaf and hard of hearing
  • crowdsourcing
  • telecollaboration
  • real-time captioning
  • universal design
  • open source
  • transcription
  • videoconferencing

• Improving Programming Interfaces for People with Limited Mobility Using Voice Recognition

  Xiomara Figueroa Fontánez, Patricia Ordóñez (2014) — Proceedings of the 16th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers & Accessibility (ASSETS)

  This paper describes an effort to make programming more accessible to people with motor impairments by integrating voice recognition into an Integrated Development Environment (IDE). The work is motivated by the specific case of a computer scientist …

  • programming accessibility
  • voice interface
  • speech recognition
  • motor disability
  • spinal muscular atrophy
  • IDE
  • open source
  • participatory design