Literature Reviews

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

• Effect of Caption Width on the TV User Experience by Deaf and Hard of Hearing Viewers

  Abraham Glasser, Joseline Garcia, Chang Hwang, Christian Vogler, Raja Kushalnagar (2021) — Proceedings of the 18th International Web for All Conference (W4A)

  This study from Rochester Institute of Technology and Gallaudet University investigates how caption line width affects the viewing experience for Deaf and hard of hearing (DHH) viewers. Captioning technology has not kept pace with the shift from broa…

  • captioning
  • deaf and hard of hearing
  • video accessibility
  • user experience
  • media accessibility
  • video customization

• 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

• Enhancing Non-Speech Information Communicated in Closed Captioning Through Critical Design

  May, Lloyd, Park, So Yeon, Berger, Jonathan (2023) — Proceedings of the 25th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS)

  This paper investigates the communication of non-speech information (NSI) in closed captioning for d/Deaf and hard of hearing (DHH) viewers through a mixed-methods study combining needfinding interviews, prototype development, surveys, and evaluation…

  • captioning
  • non-speech information
  • deaf and hard of hearing
  • critical design
  • sound communication
  • media accessibility
  • customization
  • video accessibility

• Who is speaking: Unpacking In-text Speaker Identification Preference of Viewers who are Deaf and Hard of Hearing while Watching Live Captioned Television Program

  Akhter Al Amin, Joseph Mendis, Raja Kushalnagar, Christian Vogler, Matt Huenerfauth (2023) — Proceedings of the 20th International Web for All Conference (W4A '23)

  This study systematically investigates how the number of speakers onscreen in live television programs affects Deaf and Hard of Hearing (DHH) viewers' preferences for different in-text speaker identification methods in captions. Live TV news and inte…

  • deaf and hard of hearing
  • captioning
  • live captioning
  • television accessibility
  • caption quality
  • caption customization
  • media accessibility
  • user preferences
  • Deaf community

• Making Accessible Movies Easily: An Intelligent Tool for Authoring and Integrating Audio Descriptions to Movies

  Ming Shen, Gang Huang, Yuxuan Wu, Shuyi Song, Sheng Zhou, Liangcheng Li, Zhi Yu, Wei Wang, Jiajun Bu (2024) — Proceedings of the 21st International Web for All Conference (W4A)

  This paper introduces EasyAD, an intelligent tool that automates the process of authoring and integrating audio descriptions (AD) into movies for blind and visually impaired (BVI) users. The traditional AD production workflow is highly labor-intensiv…

  • audio description
  • blind and low vision
  • media accessibility
  • multimodal AI
  • speech synthesis
  • video accessibility
  • content creation

• I Wish You Could Make the Camera Stand Still: Envisioning Media Accessibility Interventions with People with Aphasia

  Alexandre Nevsky, Filip Bircanin, Madeline N. Cruice, Stephanie Wilson, Elena Simperl, Timothy Neate (2024) — Proceedings of the 26th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS 2024)

  This paper presents the first study aimed at envisioning accessibility interventions for audiovisual media specifically designed for people with aphasia — a language disorder typically caused by stroke that affects the production and comprehension of…

  • aphasia
  • audiovisual media
  • media accessibility
  • television accessibility
  • content personalisation
  • participatory design
  • envisioning
  • diegetic prototypes
  • complex communication needs
  • subtitles
  • content domestication

• Enhancing Accessibility in Webtoons: Investigating Audio Effect Placement Strategies for Visually Impaired Users

  Heewon Lee, Juwon Cheong, Minsung Kim, Jia Kim, Hyunjung Kim (2025) — ASSETS 2025: 27th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility

  This extended abstract investigates how the timing of audio effect (AE) placement—before, during (overlapping), or after narration—affects the user experience of audio-described webtoons for visually impaired users. Webtoons are Korean-originated ver…

  • blindness
  • low vision
  • audio description
  • webtoons
  • digital comics
  • sound design
  • immersion
  • user experience
  • media accessibility

• CapTune: Adapting Non-Speech Captions With Anchored Generative Models

  Jeremy Zhengqi Huang, Caluã De Lacerda Pataca, Saelyne Yang Wu, Dhruv Jain (2025) — ASSETS 2025: 27th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility

  CapTune is a system that enables customization of non-speech captions—descriptions of environmental sounds, music, and other audio cues—for Deaf and Hard of Hearing (DHH) viewers. Current captioning practices follow a one-size-fits-all model based on…

  • closed captioning
  • non-speech information
  • caption customization
  • deaf and hard of hearing
  • generative AI
  • personalization
  • media accessibility
  • creator tools
  • large language models