Literature Reviews

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

• Strategic Design for Users with Diabetic Retinopathy: Factors Influencing Performance in a Menu-Selection Task

  Paula J. Edwards, Leon Barnard, V. Kathlene Emery, Ji Soo Yi, Kevin P. Moloney, Thitima Kongnakorn, Julie A. Jacko, François Sainfort, Pamela R. Oliver, Joseph Pizzimenti, Annette Bade, Greg Fecho, Josephine Shallo-Hoffmann (2004) — Proceedings of the 6th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (Assets 04)

  This paper examines how interface design features affect menu selection performance for users with Diabetic Retinopathy (DR), a progressive eye condition affecting 40-45% of the approximately 18 million Americans with diabetes. The study involved 25 …

  • diabetic retinopathy
  • low vision
  • visual impairment
  • multimodal feedback
  • menu design
  • user interface design
  • accessibility settings
  • haptic feedback
  • auditory feedback
  • aging

• Multimodal Feedback: Establishing a Performance Baseline for Improved Access by Individuals with Visual Impairments

  Holly S. Vitense, Julie A. Jacko, V. Kathlene Emery (2002) — Proceedings of the Fifth International ACM Conference on Assistive Technologies (Assets 02)

  This study investigates how different combinations of auditory, haptic, and visual feedback affect the performance of fully sighted users during a complex direct manipulation task. The researchers designed the study as a baseline from which to later …

  • multimodal interaction
  • haptic feedback
  • auditory feedback
  • visual impairment
  • workload measurement
  • pupillometry
  • direct manipulation
  • assistive technology

• Wearable Interfaces for Orientation and Wayfinding

  David A. Ross, Bruce B. Blasch (2000) — Proceedings of the Fourth International ACM Conference on Assistive Technologies (Assets '00)

  This paper from the Atlanta VA Rehabilitation R&D Center presents the development and evaluation of three wearable orientation interfaces designed to help people with severe visual impairment maintain spatial orientation while navigating, with street…

  • wayfinding
  • orientation and mobility
  • wearable technology
  • blindness and low vision
  • haptic feedback
  • spatial audio
  • navigation
  • pedestrian infrastructure
  • assistive technology
  • universal design

• Touching and Hearing GUIs: Design Issues for the PC-Access System

  Christophe Ramstein, Odile Martial, Aude Dufresne, Michel Carignan, Patrick Chassé, Philippe Mabilleau (1996) — Proceedings of the Second Annual ACM Conference on Assistive Technologies (Assets '96)

  This 1996 paper from Canada's Centre for Information Technology Innovation presents PC-Access, a pioneering multimodal system that combines haptic (touch) and auditory feedback to make Microsoft Windows graphical user interfaces accessible to visuall…

  • haptic technology
  • force feedback
  • multimodal interface
  • GUI accessibility
  • blind users
  • sonification
  • haptic feedback
  • accessibility history
  • assistive technology

• Blind Hero: Enabling Guitar Hero for the Visually Impaired

  Bei Yuan, Eelke Folmer (2008) — Proceedings of the 10th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (Assets '08)

  This paper from the University of Nevada, Reno presents Blind Hero, a modification of the popular video game Guitar Hero that replaces visual stimuli with haptic feedback to enable visually impaired players to participate. The system uses a custom ha…

  • game accessibility
  • haptic feedback
  • visual impairment
  • sensory substitution
  • rhythm game
  • blind users
  • inclusive design
  • haptic glove

• Rock Vibe: Rock Band® Computer Games for People with No or Limited Vision

  Troy Allman, Rupinder K. Dhillon, Molly A.E. Landau, Sri H. Kurniawan (2009) — Proceedings of the 11th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (Assets '09)

  This paper presents Rock Vibe, a modification of the commercial Rock Band® video game that replaces visual cues with haptic vibrations and audio feedback to enable people with no or limited vision to play the drumming component. The system uses an Ar…

  • game accessibility
  • visual impairment
  • blindness
  • haptic feedback
  • sensory substitution
  • inclusive design
  • music accessibility

• Exploration and Avoidance of Surrounding Obstacles for the Visually Impaired

  Limin Zeng, Denise Prescher, Gerhard Weber (2012) — Proceedings of the 14th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS 2012)

  This paper presents the 3DOD (3D Obstacle Detector), a wearable system that combines a 3D Time-of-Flight (TOF) camera with a portable multi-line refreshable Braille display to help blind pedestrians detect and avoid obstacles beyond the reach of a wh…

  • blindness
  • obstacle detection
  • electronic travel aid
  • haptic feedback
  • tactile display
  • refreshable braille display
  • wayfinding
  • mobility
  • depth sensing
  • assistive technology

• Learning Non-Visual Graphical Information Using a Touch-Based Vibro-Audio Interface

  Nicholas A. Giudice, Hari Prasath Palani, Eric Brenner, Kevin M. Kramer (2012) — Proceedings of the 14th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS 2012)

  This paper evaluates a vibro-audio interface on a commercial Samsung Galaxy tablet that provides non-visual access to graphical information through synchronized vibration and audio feedback triggered by touch exploration. When users trace their finge…

  • visual impairment
  • blind users
  • tactile graphics
  • haptic feedback
  • vibro-audio interface
  • information graphics
  • bar graphs
  • spatial learning
  • tablet
  • Android
  • multimodal interface

• Non-Visual-Cueing-Based Sensing and Understanding of Nearby Entities in Aided Navigation

  Juan Diego Gomez, Guido Bologna, Thierry Pun (2012) — Proceedings of the 14th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS 2012)

  This demonstration paper presents a context-aware navigation aid system for blind individuals that combines three levels of assistance to enhance understanding of the surrounding environment. The system addresses a fundamental challenge: blind people…

  • visual impairment
  • blind navigation
  • context-aware computing
  • computer vision
  • spatial audio
  • haptic feedback
  • obstacle detection
  • object recognition
  • depth sensing
  • cross-modal transfer

• A Haptic ATM Interface to Assist Visually Impaired Users

  Brendan Cassidy, Gilbert Cockton, Lynne Coventry (2013) — Proceedings of the 15th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS)

  This paper presents the design and evaluation of a haptic interface for ATM keypads that conveys directional information to visually impaired users without relying on audio or visual output. Current ATM accessibility primarily uses audio lead-through…

  • visual impairment
  • haptic feedback
  • ATM accessibility
  • vibro-tactile
  • deafblind
  • public kiosks
  • financial accessibility
  • older adults