Literature Reviews

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

• Loudmouth: Modifying Text-to-Speech Synthesis in Noise

  Rupal Patel, Michael Everett, Eldar Sadikov (2006) — Proceedings of the 8th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (Assets '06)

  This short paper from Northeastern University presents Loudmouth, a modified text-to-speech synthesizer that emulates the Lombard effect — the natural way humans adjust their speech in noisy environments — to improve synthesized speech intelligibilit…

  • text-to-speech
  • speech synthesis
  • AAC
  • Lombard effect
  • speech intelligibility
  • noise
  • prosody
  • assistive technology

• A System for Creating Personalized Synthetic Voices

  Debra Yarrington, Chris Pennington, John Gray, H. Timothy Bunnell (2005) — Proceedings of the 7th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (Assets '05)

  This paper presents the ModelTalker Voice Creation System, a tool that enables individuals to create personalized synthetic voices with unrestricted vocabulary for use in augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) devices. The system addresses …

  • speech synthesis
  • voice banking
  • AAC
  • amyotrophic lateral sclerosis
  • text-to-speech
  • personalized voice
  • assistive technology
  • concatenative synthesis

• Capturing Phrases for ICU-Talk, a Communication Aid for Intubated Intensive Care Patients

  S. Ashraf, A. Judson, I. W. Ricketts, A. Waller, N. Alm, B. Gordon, F. MacAulay, J. K. Brodie, M. Etchels, A. Warden, A. J. Shearer (2002) — Proceedings of the Fifth International ACM Conference on Assistive Technologies (Assets 02)

  This paper describes the vocabulary gathering methods used for ICU-Talk, a three-year multidisciplinary project at the University of Dundee and Ninewells Hospital that developed an augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) aid specifically for…

  • augmentative and alternative communication
  • AAC
  • intensive care
  • vocabulary selection
  • phrase-based communication
  • speech synthesis
  • medical accessibility
  • intubation

• A New Generation of Communication Aids under the ULYSSES Component-Based Framework

  Georgios Kouroupetroglou, Alexandros Pino (2002) — Proceedings of the Fifth International ACM Conference on Assistive Technologies (Assets '02)

  This paper from the University of Athens introduces ULYSSES, a component-based software framework for building customisable AAC (Augmentative and Alternative Communication) devices. The core problem ULYSSES addresses is that AAC users have highly div…

  • augmentative and alternative communication
  • component-based framework
  • software engineering
  • assistive technology
  • speech synthesis
  • switch access
  • symbol communication
  • scanning

• Lessons from Developing Audio HTML Interfaces

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

  This paper presents the AHA (Audio HTML Access) framework, a set of principles for choosing sounds to use in audio-based HTML interfaces designed for blind and visually impaired users. The research builds on earlier work at Stanford University explor…

  • audio interfaces
  • non-visual web access
  • sonification
  • speech synthesis
  • blind users
  • auditory display
  • HTML accessibility
  • sound design

• Improving the Usability of Speech-Based Interfaces for Blind Users

  Ian J. Pitt, Alistair D. N. Edwards (1996) — Proceedings of the Second Annual ACM Conference on Assistive Technologies (Assets '96)

  This paper from the University of York examines the usability problems inherent in speech-based interfaces for blind computer users and presents a study comparing how blind and sighted subjects process information delivered through synthetic speech. …

  • blindness and low vision
  • screen reader
  • speech synthesis
  • usability
  • speech dialogue design
  • text-to-speech
  • auditory interface
  • prosody
  • cognitive load

• V-Lynx: Bringing the World Wide Web to Sight Impaired Users

  Mitchell Krell, Davor Cubranic (1996) — Proceedings of the Second Annual ACM Conference on Assistive Technologies (Assets '96)

  This 1996 paper from the University of Southern Mississippi presents V-Lynx, one of the earliest voice-enabled web browsers designed to make the World Wide Web accessible to sight-impaired users. At this time, WWW traffic had only recently become sig…

  • web accessibility
  • screen reader
  • speech synthesis
  • web browser
  • blind users
  • non-visual browsing
  • HTML
  • hypertext navigation
  • accessibility history

• Are Synthesized Video Descriptions Acceptable?

  Masatomo Kobayashi, Trisha O'Connell, Bryan Gould, Hironobu Takagi, Chieko Asakawa (2010) — Proceedings of the 12th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS 2010)

  This paper from IBM Research Tokyo and WGBH National Center for Accessible Media investigates whether text-to-speech (TTS) synthesised narrations are an acceptable alternative to human-narrated audio descriptions for online videos. While accessibilit…

  • audio description
  • video accessibility
  • text-to-speech
  • speech synthesis
  • web accessibility
  • blind and low vision
  • online video
  • extended description

• The Effect of Voice Output on AAC-Supported Conversations of Persons with Alzheimer's Disease

  Melanie Fried-Oken, Charity Rowland, Glory Baker, Mayling Dixon, Carolyn Mills, Darlene Schultz, Barry Oken (2009) — ACM Transactions on Accessible Computing

  This study investigated whether digitized voice output on AAC (Augmentative and Alternative Communication) devices would improve conversations for people with moderate Alzheimer's disease. The researchers hypothesized that voice output might function…

  • AAC
  • Alzheimer's disease
  • dementia
  • voice output
  • cognitive accessibility
  • aging
  • speech synthesis

• ITHACA: An Open Source Framework for Building Component-Based Augmentative and Alternative Communication Applications

  Alexandros Pino, Georgios Kouroupetroglou (2010) — ACM Transactions on Accessible Computing

  This paper introduces ITHACA, an open source software framework for developing modular, customizable AAC applications. The authors address a persistent problem in assistive technology: AAC products are typically expensive, monolithic, difficult to cu…

  • augmentative and alternative communication
  • AAC
  • open source
  • assistive technology
  • component-based development
  • Design for All
  • speech synthesis
  • symbol communication
  • cerebral palsy
  • software framework