Literature Reviews

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

• Accessible Web Development: Opportunities to Improve the Education and Practice of web Development with a Screen Reader

  Claire Ferrari, Amy Hurst (2021) — ACM Transactions on Accessible Computing

  This paper investigates accessibility barriers faced by blind web developers in both educational and professional contexts. The researchers employed a Comprehensive Literature Review (CLR) methodology—synthesizing academic literature, blog posts by b…

  • blind programmers
  • screen readers
  • web development
  • CSS
  • accessible education
  • IDE accessibility
  • visual impairment
  • inclusive curriculum
  • developer tools

• Expanding a Large Inclusive Study of Human Listening Rates

  Danielle Bragg, Katharina Reinecke, Richard E. Ladner (2021) — ACM Transactions on Accessible Computing

  This study presents the first large-scale, inclusive online investigation of human listening rates for fast synthetic speech, conducted via the LabintheWild crowdsourcing platform over 12 months with 1,409 participants. The research aimed to understa…

  • screen readers
  • synthetic speech
  • text-to-speech
  • listening rates
  • auditory processing
  • visual impairment
  • crowdsourced research
  • VoiceOver
  • LabintheWild

• Fully Autonomous Vehicles for People with Visual Impairment: Policy, Accessibility, and Future Directions

  Paul D. S. Fink, Jessica A. Holz, Nicholas A. Giudice (2021) — ACM Transactions on Accessible Computing

  This policy analysis examines how fully autonomous vehicles (FAVs) could transform mobility for people who are blind or visually impaired (BVI), while arguing that current US legislation fails to address their accessibility needs. With over 25 millio…

  • autonomous vehicles
  • transportation policy
  • blindness
  • visual impairment
  • accessible design
  • artificial intelligence
  • mobility

• Iterative Design of Sonification Techniques to Support People with Visual Impairments in Obstacle Avoidance

  Giorgio Presti, Dragan Ahmetovic, Mattia Ducci, Cristian Bernareggi, Luca A. Ludovico, Adriano Baratè, Federico Avanzini, Sergio Mascetti (2021) — ACM Transactions on Accessible Computing

  This paper presents WatchOut, a sonification system that conveys real-time obstacle information to blind or visually impaired (BVI) people through non-verbal audio cues. While white canes detect obstacles only within about 1 meter and miss elevated h…

  • visual impairment
  • blindness
  • sonification
  • obstacle avoidance
  • orientation and mobility
  • computer vision
  • auditory display
  • navigation assistance

• Privacy Concerns for Visual Assistance Technologies

  Abigale Stangl, Kristina Shiroma, Nathan Davis, Bo Xie, Kenneth R. Fleischmann, Leah Findlater, Danna Gurari (2022) — ACM Transactions on Accessible Computing

  This comprehensive study examines privacy concerns of blind users when sharing images and videos with visual assistance technologies (VATs) like Aira, Be My Eyes, and Seeing AI. The research addresses a fundamental tension: blind people must share vi…

  • visual impairment
  • privacy
  • visual assistance technology
  • artificial intelligence
  • remote sighted assistance
  • image description
  • privacy policy
  • data protection

• AIGuide: Augmented Reality Hand Guidance in a Visual Prosthetic

  Sooyeon Lee, Chien Wen Yuan, So-yeon Yoon, John M. Carroll (2022) — ACM Transactions on Accessible Computing

  AIGuide is an iOS smartphone application designed as a "visual prosthetic" to help people with visual impairments locate and physically reach objects in their environment. The app addresses what the authors call the "last meter problem"—while existin…

  • augmented reality
  • visual impairment
  • object detection
  • hand guidance
  • multimodal feedback
  • haptic feedback
  • smartphone accessibility
  • assistive technology

• Addressing Accessibility Barriers in Programming for People with Visual Impairments: A Literature Review

  Aboubakar Mountapmbeme, Obianuju Okafor, Stephanie Ludi (2022) — ACM Transactions on Accessible Computing

  This systematic literature review analyzes 70 papers published between 2000-2020 examining accessibility barriers in programming for people with visual impairments and proposed solutions. The review covers both professional programmers and students l…

  • visual impairment
  • blindness
  • programming
  • IDE accessibility
  • screen readers
  • code navigation
  • block-based programming
  • tangible programming
  • computer science education
  • literature review

• Shared Privacy Concerns of the Visually Impaired and Sighted Bystanders with Camera-Based Assistive Technologies

  Taslima Akter, Tousif Ahmed, Apu Kapadia, Manohar Swaminathan (2022) — ACM Transactions on Accessible Computing

  This paper investigates the privacy and ethical concerns surrounding camera-based assistive technologies (like smart glasses) from two perspectives: people with visual impairments (PVIs) as technology wearers and sighted people as bystanders who migh…

  • privacy
  • visual impairment
  • camera-based assistive technology
  • AI ethics
  • algorithmic bias
  • smart glasses
  • augmented reality
  • bystander privacy
  • facial recognition

• "Every Website Is a Puzzle!": Facilitating Access to Common Website Features for People with Visual Impairments

  Natã M. Barbosa, Jordan Hayes, Smirity Kaushik, Yang Wang (2022) — ACM Transactions on Accessible Computing

  This paper addresses a fundamental challenge for screen reader users: while sighted users can rely on visual conventions to find common website features (log in at top right, contact at bottom), these shortcuts are inaccessible to users with visual i…

  • visual impairment
  • screen readers
  • web accessibility
  • machine learning
  • crowdsourcing
  • browser extension
  • universal design
  • intelligent personal assistants

• Tactile Materials in Practice: Understanding the Experiences of Teachers of the Visually Impaired

  Mahika Phutane, Julie Wright, Brenda Veronica Castro, Lei Shi, Simone R. Stern, Holly M. Lawson, Shiri Azenkot (2022) — ACM Transactions on Accessible Computing

  This research investigates how Teachers of the Visually Impaired (TVIs) create, acquire, and use tactile materials—tactile graphics, 3D models, and real objects—in their educational practice. Despite growing research interest in tactile material crea…

  • visual impairment
  • blindness
  • tactile graphics
  • 3D models
  • education
  • teachers of the visually impaired
  • Expanded Core Curriculum
  • braille
  • orientation and mobility