Literature Reviews

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

• Enhancing Non-Speech Information Communicated in Closed Captioning Through Critical Design

  May, Lloyd, Park, So Yeon, Berger, Jonathan (2023) — Proceedings of the 25th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS)

  This paper investigates the communication of non-speech information (NSI) in closed captioning for d/Deaf and hard of hearing (DHH) viewers through a mixed-methods study combining needfinding interviews, prototype development, surveys, and evaluation…

  • captioning
  • non-speech information
  • deaf and hard of hearing
  • critical design
  • sound communication
  • media accessibility
  • customization
  • video accessibility

• "Not There Yet": Feasibility and Challenges of Mobile Sound Recognition to Support Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing People

  Jeremy Zhengqi Huang, Hriday Chhabria, Dhruv Jain (2023) — Proceedings of the 25th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS)

  This paper presents the first longitudinal field study of a mobile sound recognition system used by Deaf and hard of hearing (DHH) people in their daily lives. The researchers deployed SoundWatch, a smartwatch-based app that uses a deep learning mode…

  • deaf and hard of hearing
  • sound recognition
  • wearable technology
  • smartwatch
  • assistive technology
  • machine learning
  • field study
  • human-AI interaction
  • privacy

• User Perceptions and Preferences for Online Surveys in American Sign Language: An Exploratory Study

  Rachel Boll, Shruti Mahajan, Tish Burke, Khulood Alkhudaidi, Brittany Henriques, Isabelle Cordova, Zoey Walker, Erin T. Solovey, Jeanne Reis (2023) — Proceedings of the 25th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS)

  This paper presents SL-Surveys, an interactive prototype survey tool designed from the ground up for American Sign Language (ASL) rather than retrofitting text-based survey platforms with ASL video content. The research team, which included Deaf ASL-…

  • deaf and hard of hearing
  • American Sign Language
  • survey design
  • user experience
  • ASL-centric design
  • video interface
  • accessibility research methods
  • participatory design

• Jod: Examining Design and Implementation of a Videoconferencing Platform for Mixed Hearing Groups

  Mittal, Anant, Gupta, Meghna, Poddar, Roshni, Naik, Tarini, Kuppuraj, Seethalakshmi, Fogarty, James, Kumar, Pratyush, Jain, Mohit (2023) — Proceedings of the 25th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS)

  This paper presents the design, implementation, and evaluation of Jod (a Hindi word meaning "link"), a web-based videoconferencing platform purpose-built for mixed hearing group communication. Current platforms like Zoom, Teams, and Google Meet prese…

  • deaf and hard of hearing
  • videoconferencing
  • sign language
  • mixed hearing groups
  • visual layout
  • captioning
  • accessible communication
  • Indian Sign Language
  • participatory design

• AdaptiveSound: An Interactive Feedback-Loop System to Improve Sound Recognition for Deaf and Hard of Hearing Users

  Hang Do, Quan Dang, Jeremy Zhengqi Huang, Dhruv Jain (2023) — ASSETS '23: Proceedings of the 25th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility

  This paper introduces AdaptiveSound, the first feedback-loop sound recognition system designed for deaf and hard of hearing (DHH) users. Sound recognition tools help DHH people become aware of environmental sounds ranging from safety-critical alerts …

  • deaf and hard of hearing
  • sound recognition
  • human-in-the-loop
  • machine learning
  • incremental learning
  • sound awareness
  • personalization
  • mobile accessibility

• Who is speaking: Unpacking In-text Speaker Identification Preference of Viewers who are Deaf and Hard of Hearing while Watching Live Captioned Television Program

  Akhter Al Amin, Joseph Mendis, Raja Kushalnagar, Christian Vogler, Matt Huenerfauth (2023) — Proceedings of the 20th International Web for All Conference (W4A '23)

  This study systematically investigates how the number of speakers onscreen in live television programs affects Deaf and Hard of Hearing (DHH) viewers' preferences for different in-text speaker identification methods in captions. Live TV news and inte…

  • deaf and hard of hearing
  • captioning
  • live captioning
  • television accessibility
  • caption quality
  • caption customization
  • media accessibility
  • user preferences
  • Deaf community

• Understanding How Deaf and Hard of Hearing Viewers Visually Explore Captioned Live TV News

  Akhter Al Amin, Saad Hassan, Sooyeon Lee, Matt Huenerfauth (2023) — Proceedings of the 20th International Web for All Conference (W4A '23)

  This study investigates how Deaf and Hard of Hearing (DHH) viewers distribute their visual attention across different information regions on screen while watching captioned live television news. More than 360 million people worldwide are DHH, and man…

  • deaf and hard of hearing
  • captioning
  • eye tracking
  • television accessibility
  • caption placement
  • gaze behavior
  • live captioning
  • news consumption
  • attention
  • caption quality metrics

• The State of Accessibility in Blackboard: Survey and User Reviews Case Study

  Wajdi Aljedaani, Mohammed Alkahtani, Stephanie Ludi, Mohamed Wiem Mkaouer, Marcelo M. Eler, Marouane Kessentini, Ali Ouni (2023) — Proceedings of the 20th International Web for All Conference (W4A)

  This paper investigates the accessibility of the Blackboard mobile app, one of the most widely used Learning Management Systems (LMS) in higher education, through a two-pronged methodology. First, the authors conducted a large-scale survey with 1,308…

  • mobile accessibility
  • learning management systems
  • deaf and hard of hearing
  • education accessibility
  • user reviews
  • app accessibility

• Modeling Word Importance in Conversational Transcripts: Toward improved live captioning for Deaf and hard of hearing viewers

  Akhter Al Amin, Saad Hassan, Matt Huenerfauth, Cecilia O. Alm (2023) — Proceedings of the 20th International Web for All Conference (W4A)

  This paper investigates how to model word importance in conversational transcripts to improve live captioning quality for Deaf and hard of hearing (DHH) viewers. Live captions generated by automatic speech recognition (ASR) systems inevitably contain…

  • live captioning
  • deaf and hard of hearing
  • automatic speech recognition
  • word importance
  • natural language processing
  • caption quality metrics

• Improving the User Experience for Sign Language Interpreters in Remote Interpretation for Small Group Settings

  Roshan Mathew, Wendy Dannels (2025) — Proceedings of the 22nd International Web for All Conference (W4A 2025)

  This study investigates whether increasing a sign language interpreter's visual access to a deaf client's environment through wider field-of-view (FoV) webcams and customizable screen layouts can enhance the user experience of remote small group inte…

  • video remote interpreting
  • sign language interpreting
  • deaf and hard of hearing
  • videoconferencing
  • field of view
  • webcam technology
  • workplace accessibility