Literature Reviews

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

• StepWrite: Adaptive Planning for Speech-Driven Text Generation

  Hamza El Alaoui, Atieh Taheri, Yi-Hao Peng, Jeffrey P. Bigham (2025) — Proceedings of the 38th Annual ACM Symposium on User Interface Software and Technology (UIST '25)

  This paper introduces StepWrite, an LLM-powered voice-based writing system that enables structured, hands-free and eyes-free composition of longer-form texts. While speech-to-text tools handle short dictation well, composing structured emails or deta…

  • voice interface
  • speech-to-text
  • hands-free interaction
  • eyes-free interaction
  • large language models
  • text composition
  • cognitive load
  • adaptive planning
  • writing assistance
  • motor impairment
  • multitasking

• Move&Flick: Design and Evaluation of a Single-Finger and Eyes-Free Kana-Character Entry Method on Touch Screens

  Ryosuke Aoki, Ryo Hashimoto, Akihiro Miyata, Shunichi Seko, Masahiro Watanabe, Masayuki Ihara (2014) — Proceedings of the 16th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers & Accessibility (ASSETS '14)

  This demonstration paper presents Move&Flick, a Japanese Kana-character text entry method designed for visually impaired users on touchscreen devices. Standard touchscreen text entry for visually impaired people is burdensome: users must explore the …

  • text entry
  • touchscreen accessibility
  • visual impairment
  • mobile accessibility
  • gesture interaction
  • Japanese accessibility
  • eyes-free interaction
  • input methods

• Design of and Subjective Response to On-body Input for People with Visual Impairments

  Uran Oh, Leah Findlater (2014) — Proceedings of the 16th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers & Accessibility (ASSETS)

  This paper investigates on-body input — using the skin as an input surface — as an alternative or complement to touchscreen interaction for people with visual impairments. Since blind users do not need the visual display of a mobile device, on-body i…

  • mobile accessibility
  • on-body interaction
  • gesture interaction
  • blindness
  • wearable technology
  • eyes-free interaction
  • social acceptability
  • input methods

• Exploring an Ambiguous Technique for Eyes-Free Mobile Text Entry

  Dylan Gaines (2018) — Proceedings of the 20th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS 2018)

  This student research competition paper from Michigan Technological University presents Tap123, an ambiguous eyes-free keyboard for mobile text entry that does not require users to tap specific keys. The system is motivated by the limitations of exis…

  • blindness
  • low vision
  • text entry
  • mobile accessibility
  • eyes-free interaction
  • touchscreen accessibility
  • input methods
  • ambiguous keyboard

• GestureCalc: An Eyes-Free Calculator for Touch Screens

  Bindita Chaudhuri, Leah Perlmutter, Justin Petelka, Philip Garrison, James Fogarty, Jacob O. Wobbrock, Richard E. Ladner (2019) — Proceedings of the 21st International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS)

  This full research paper presents GestureCalc, an eyes-free, target-less gesture-based calculator for touch screens, along with a rigorous three-session longitudinal evaluation with eight screen reader users. The system replaces the spatial button la…

  • gesture-based interaction
  • touchscreen accessibility
  • blindness
  • visual impairment
  • screen reader
  • eyes-free interaction
  • mobile accessibility
  • calculator
  • input methods
  • conceptual metaphor
  • longitudinal study

• Typing Slowly but Screen-Free: Exploring Navigation over Entirely Auditory Keyboards

  Reeti Mathur, Aishwarya Sheth, Parimal Vyas, Davide Bolchini (2019) — Proceedings of the 21st International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS)

  This paper introduces the concept of "keyflows" — entirely auditory keyboards that operate without a reference screen, enabling blind users to type while untethered from their mobile device. The core problem is that current accessible keyboards requi…

  • text entry
  • blindness
  • visual impairment
  • screen reader
  • auditory interface
  • screenless interaction
  • wearable technology
  • gesture-based interaction
  • mobile accessibility
  • eyes-free interaction

• Demonstration of GestureCalc: An Eyes-Free Calculator for Touch Screens

  Leah Perlmutter, Bindita Chaudhuri, Justin Petelka, Philip Garrison, James Fogarty, Jacob O. Wobbrock, Richard E. Ladner (2019) — Proceedings of the 21st International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS)

  This demonstration paper presents GestureCalc, an eyes-free, target-less digital calculator for touch screen devices that replaces traditional button-based input with intuitive gesture-based input. The core problem is that existing calculator apps re…

  • gesture-based interaction
  • touchscreen accessibility
  • blindness
  • visual impairment
  • screen reader
  • eyes-free interaction
  • mobile accessibility
  • calculator
  • input methods

• GestureVoice: Enabling Multimodal Text Editing for Blind Users Using Gestures and Voice

  Prerna Khanna, Sai Pravallika Reddy, IV Ramakrishnan, Xiaojun Bi, Aruna Balasubramanian (2025) — ASSETS 2025: 27th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility

  This paper introduces GestureVoice, a multimodal text editing system that enables blind smartphone users to edit text using mid-air hand gestures detected by a smartwatch combined with voice commands, eliminating the need for touchscreen interaction.…

  • text editing
  • blind users
  • multimodal interaction
  • gesture recognition
  • voice commands
  • smartwatch
  • wearable technology
  • screen readers
  • mobile accessibility
  • eyes-free interaction

• Audio-Based Feedback Techniques for Teaching Touchscreen Gestures

  Uran Oh, Stacy Branham, Leah Findlater, Shaun K. Kane (2015) — ACM Transactions on Accessible Computing (TACCESS)

  This paper proposes and evaluates two complementary audio-based techniques for teaching touchscreen gestures to blind and low-vision users: gesture sonification (mapping finger position to pitch and stereo panning to create an audio representation of…

  • visual impairment
  • touchscreen
  • gesture learning
  • sonification
  • audio feedback
  • mobile accessibility
  • eyes-free interaction