Literature Reviews

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

• 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

• The Sem-Lex Benchmark: Modeling ASL Signs and their Phonemes

  Lee Kezar, Jesse Thomason, Naomi Caselli, Zed Sehyr, Elana Pontecorvo (2023) — ASSETS '23: Proceedings of the 25th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility

  This paper introduces the Sem-Lex Benchmark, the largest curated dataset of its kind for American Sign Language (ASL) isolated sign recognition, containing over 84,000 videos of isolated sign productions from 41 deaf ASL signers. The dataset addresse…

  • sign language recognition
  • American Sign Language
  • machine learning
  • phonology
  • dataset
  • deaf accessibility
  • computer vision
  • benchmark

• Towards Optimised Population Sourcing for Web Accessibility Evaluation

  Alexander Hambley (2023) — Proceedings of the 20th International Web for All Conference (W4A '23)

  This doctoral consortium extended abstract presents a PhD project proposing a novel framework and prototypical tool for optimising web accessibility evaluation through statistically representative page sampling. The work is the single-author companio…

  • automated accessibility testing
  • web accessibility
  • accessibility evaluation
  • web crawling
  • machine learning
  • WCAG compliance
  • accessibility standards
  • large-scale analysis

• OPTIMAL-EM: Optimised Population Sourcing for Web Accessibility Evaluation

  Alexander Hambley, Yeliz Yesilada, Markel Vigo, Simon Harper (2023) — Proceedings of the 20th International Web for All Conference (W4A '23)

  This extended abstract presents OPTIMAL-EM, a prototypical tool and framework designed to optimise the web accessibility evaluation process by systematically selecting representative pages from a website for auditing. Currently, accessibility evaluat…

  • automated accessibility testing
  • web accessibility
  • accessibility evaluation
  • web crawling
  • machine learning
  • WCAG compliance
  • accessibility standards
  • large-scale analysis

• AutoChemplete - Making Chemical Structural Formulas Accessible (Extended Abstract)

  Merlin Knaeble, Gabriel Sailer, Zihan Chen, Thorsten Schwarz, Kailun Yang, Mario Nadj, Rainer Stiefelhagen, Alexander Maedche (2023) — Proceedings of the 20th International Web for All Conference (W4A)

  This extended abstract presents AutoChemplete, an interactive labeling tool designed to make chemical structural formulas accessible to blind and low vision (BLV) students. The paper highlights a stark gap in STEM education: while 69% of US BLV stude…

  • STEM accessibility
  • chemistry accessibility
  • blind and low vision
  • interactive labeling
  • machine learning
  • document accessibility
  • tactile graphics

• AutoChemplete - Making Chemical Structural Formulas Accessible

  Merlin Knaeble, Gabriel Sailer, Zihan Chen, Thorsten Schwarz, Kailun Yang, Mario Nadj, Rainer Stiefelhagen, Alexander Maedche (2023) — Proceedings of the 20th International Web for All Conference (W4A)

  This paper presents AutoChemplete, an interactive labeling tool that makes chemical structural formulas accessible to blind and low-vision (BLV) students. Chemical structural formulas — visual diagrams showing atoms, bonds, and molecular geometry — a…

  • STEM accessibility
  • blind and low vision
  • chemistry
  • machine learning
  • interactive labeling
  • document accessibility
  • alt text
  • tactile graphics

• AI and Gamification for Employees with ADHD: A Tool for Enhancing Workplace Focus & Productivity

  Tahani Jaser Alahmadi, Ruyouf AlKhuzaim, Meral AlHelwah, Abbrar AlOtaibi, Dima AlTammami, Daad AlSaqer (2025) — Proceedings of the 22nd International Web for All Conference (W4A)

  This paper presents WADAQ, an AI-driven gamification tool designed to support employees with ADHD in improving focus, task management, and workplace productivity. The system operates in three stages: first, machine learning classification models pred…

  • ADHD
  • gamification
  • machine learning
  • reinforcement learning
  • workplace accessibility
  • cognitive accessibility
  • digital therapeutics
  • employment

• Color-Coded Emotional Learning Serious Games for Children with Autism: Foregrounding Facial Expression Recognition & Accessibility

  Tahani Jaser Alahmadi, Haifa Albahli, Modhi Alqahtani, Hind Bin Mehaya, Imtinan Alqahtani, Joory Alotaibi (2025) — Proceedings of the 22nd International Web for All Conference (W4A)

  This technical note presents Muheet, a mobile application that uses color-emotion associations and AI-based facial expression recognition to help children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) understand and recognize emotions. ASD affects approximatel…

  • autism
  • emotional learning
  • serious games
  • facial expression recognition
  • machine learning
  • cognitive accessibility
  • children
  • color-emotion association

• Joint Bilingual Navigation of Informed Consent and Intake Forms in American Sign Language and Written English

  Matthew Seita, Michaela Usha, Rachel Skwersky, Poorna Kushalnagar, Raja Kushalnagar (2025) — Proceedings of the 22nd International Web for All Conference (W4A 2025)

  This paper presents a joint bilingual informed consent and intake form that can be navigated simultaneously in American Sign Language (ASL) and written English, addressing a critical accessibility barrier for the approximately 500,000 Americans who p…

  • deaf and hard of hearing
  • sign language recognition
  • informed consent
  • healthcare accessibility
  • American Sign Language
  • bilingual interfaces
  • machine learning

• AccessGuru: Leveraging LLMs to Detect and Correct Web Accessibility Violations in HTML Code

  Nadeen Fathallah, Daniel Hernández, Steffen Staab (2025) — ASSETS 2025: 27th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility

  This paper introduces AccessGuru, a novel method that combines traditional automated accessibility testing tools with large language models (LLMs) to both detect and correct web accessibility violations in HTML code. The work addresses a persistent g…

  • automated testing
  • web accessibility
  • large language models
  • HTML remediation
  • prompt engineering
  • WCAG
  • accessibility violations
  • machine learning