Literature Reviews

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

• Measuring the Accuracy of Automatic Speech Recognition Solutions

  Korbinian Kuhn, Verena Kersken, Benedikt Reuter, Niklas Egger, Gottfried Zimmermann (2024) — ACM Transactions on Accessible Computing

  This study provides independent, comprehensive benchmarking of 11 common automatic speech recognition (ASR) services to assess their real-world accuracy for accessibility purposes. The research addresses a critical gap: while vendors claim "state-of-…

  • automatic speech recognition
  • ASR
  • captions
  • deaf and hard of hearing
  • transcription
  • accessibility testing
  • word error rate
  • machine learning
  • higher education

• Evaluating Alternatives for Better Deaf Accessibility to Selected Web-Based Multimedia

  Brent N. Shiver, Rosalee J. Wolfe (2015) — ASSETS '15: Proceedings of the 17th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers & Accessibility

  This research addresses the accessibility gap created by the proliferation of uncaptioned video content online—a particular problem for deaf adults who use American Sign Language as their primary language and view English as a second language. While …

  • deaf accessibility
  • captions
  • automatic speech recognition
  • ASR
  • multimedia accessibility
  • web accessibility
  • online video
  • news accessibility
  • American Sign Language

• Online News Videos: The UX of Subtitle Position

  Michael Crabb, Rhianne Jones, Mike Armstrong, Chris J. Hughes (2015) — ASSETS '15: Proceedings of the 17th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers & Accessibility

  This BBC-funded research investigates whether repositioning subtitles from their traditional placement within a video to below the video frame improves user experience for online news content. The study addresses a gap in captioning research: while t…

  • subtitles
  • captions
  • deaf accessibility
  • user experience
  • video accessibility
  • personalization
  • online media
  • web video
  • hearing impairment

• E-learning 2.0: You Are We-LCoME!

  Stefano Ferretti, Silvia Mirri, Ludovico Antonio Muratori, Marco Roccetti, Paola Salomoni (2008) — Proceedings of the 2008 International Cross-Disciplinary Conference on Web Accessibility (W4A)

  This paper presents We-LCoME (Wiki e-Learning Compound Multimedia Environment), a collaborative platform for creating and enriching accessible multimedia e-learning resources. Built on top of DokuWiki, the system allows a community of "prosumers" — l…

  • e-learning
  • multimedia accessibility
  • collaborative authoring
  • Web 2.0
  • SMIL
  • content adaptation
  • captions
  • learning objects
  • wiki
  • ATAG

• Responsive Design for Personalised Subtitles

  Chris J. Hughes, Mike Armstrong, Rhianne Jones, Michael Crabb (2015) — Proceedings of the 12th International Web for All Conference (W4A)

  This paper from BBC R&D and the University of Dundee proposes applying responsive web design principles to subtitle display, moving away from the legacy Teletext format that has constrained subtitling since 1979. Traditional subtitles are pre-blocked…

  • subtitles
  • captions
  • responsive design
  • video accessibility
  • personalization
  • deaf and hard of hearing
  • web video
  • media accessibility

• HTML5 accessible video player: how and why

  Crista Earl, Elizabeth Neal (2016) — Proceedings of the 13th International Web for All Conference (W4A)

  This paper from the American Foundation for the Blind (AFB) describes the development of a free, open source HTML5 video player designed to address the widespread accessibility barriers in online video playback interfaces. The authors identify four k…

  • video accessibility
  • media accessibility
  • HTML5
  • keyboard accessibility
  • low vision
  • screen reader accessibility
  • captions
  • audio description

• Accessible OzPlayer Video Player

  Matt McLeod, Gian Wild (2016) — Proceedings of the 13th International Web for All Conference (W4A)

  This extended abstract presents OzPlayer, a web video player built by Australian accessibility consultancy AccessibilityOz specifically to address the widespread inaccessibility of popular video players on the web. The authors, who routinely audited …

  • video accessibility
  • media accessibility
  • keyboard accessibility
  • captions
  • audio description
  • web development
  • multimedia accessibility

• Teleconference Accessibility and Guidelines for Deaf and Hard of Hearing Users

  Raja S. Kushalnagar, Christian Vogler (2020) — Proceedings of the 22nd International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS 2020)

  This experience report from two Gallaudet University researchers examines the accessibility challenges that deaf and hard of hearing (DHH) users face in teleconference environments, drawing on nearly a decade of first-hand participation across platfo…

  • deaf
  • hard of hearing
  • teleconferencing
  • remote participation
  • sign language
  • captions
  • video conferencing
  • cognitive load
  • communication access

• I See What You're Saying: A Literature Review of Eye Tracking Research in Communication of Deaf or Hard of Hearing Users

  Chanchal Agrawal, Roshan L Peiris (2021) — Proceedings of the 23rd International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS '21)

  This paper presents a comprehensive literature review of 55 eye-tracking studies examining the gaze patterns and communication behaviours of deaf or hard-of-hearing (DHH) individuals. The authors systematically searched ACM, IEEE, Google Scholar, and…

  • deaf and hard of hearing
  • eye tracking
  • eye gaze
  • sign language
  • lip-reading
  • captions
  • attention management
  • visual communication
  • literature review

• Caption-Occlusion Severity Judgments across Live-Television Genres from Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing Viewers

  Akhter Al Amin, Saad Hassan, Matt Huenerfauth (2021) — Proceedings of the 18th International Web for All Conference (W4A '21)

  This paper addresses a largely overlooked dimension of caption quality for Deaf and Hard of Hearing (DHH) viewers: the problem of captions occluding important onscreen visual content during live television broadcasts. While existing caption quality m…

  • deaf and hard of hearing
  • captions
  • television accessibility
  • caption placement
  • media accessibility
  • user research