Literature Reviews

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

• Sidewalk, A Wayfinding Message Syntax for People with a Visual Impairment

  Joey van der Bie, Christina Jaschinski, Somaya Ben Allouch (2019) — Proceedings of the 21st International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS 2019)

  This poster paper introduces Sidewalk, a structured wayfinding message syntax designed to improve navigation instructions for people with visual impairments (PVI) using mobile applications. The authors argue that traditional turn-by-turn navigation a…

  • visual impairment
  • wayfinding
  • navigation
  • natural language
  • mobile accessibility
  • spoken messages
  • urban navigation

• 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

• A Portable Hong Kong Sign Language Translation Platform with Deep Learning and Jetson Nano

  Zhenxing Zhou, Yisiang Neo, King-Shan Lui, Vincent W.L. Tam, Edmund Y. Lam, Ngai Wong (2020) — Proceedings of the 22nd International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS)

  This demonstration paper presents a portable platform for translating Hong Kong Sign Language (HKSL) into spoken language using deep learning and edge computing hardware. The system addresses a significant communication gap: Hong Kong has over 155,00…

  • sign language recognition
  • deep learning
  • edge computing
  • mobile accessibility
  • deaf and hard of hearing
  • assistive technology
  • Hong Kong Sign Language

• Designing and Evaluating Head-based Pointing on Smartphones for People with Motor Impairments

  Muratcan Cicek, Ankit Dave, Wenxin Feng, Michael Xuelin Huang, Julia Katherine Haines, Jeffry Nichols (2020) — Proceedings of the 22nd International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS '20)

  This paper presents a calibration-free head-based pointing (HBP) system for Android smartphones that uses the standard front-facing camera to enable people with motor impairments to control an on-screen cursor through head movements. The system was d…

  • motor accessibility
  • head tracking
  • alternative input
  • mobile accessibility
  • Fitts law
  • computer vision
  • assistive technology

• Supporting Selfie Editing Experiences for People with Visual Impairments

  Soobin Park (2020) — Proceedings of the 22nd International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS)

  This short paper investigates the selfie editing experiences and desires of people with visual impairments (PVI), a topic largely overlooked despite research showing that PVI actively participate in social media and photo sharing. The study has two p…

  • visual impairment
  • social media accessibility
  • photo editing
  • voice interface
  • blindness
  • augmented reality
  • mobile accessibility

• Breaking Boundaries with Live Transcribe: Expanding Use Cases Beyond Standard Captioning Scenarios

  Fernando Loizides, Sara Basson, Dimitri Kanevsky, Olga Prilepova, Sagar Savla, Susanna Zaraysky (2020) — Proceedings of the 22nd International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS)

  This short paper catalogs non-traditional, serendipitous uses of Google's Live Transcribe, a free Android application that provides real-time speech-to-text transcription in over 80 languages. The authors — a mix of Google developers, researchers, an…

  • automatic speech recognition
  • deaf and hard of hearing
  • captioning
  • speech to text
  • COVID-19
  • communication accessibility
  • mobile accessibility

• AIGuide: An Augmented Reality Hand Guidance Application for People with Visual Impairments

  Nelson Daniel Troncoso Aldas, Sooyeon Lee, Chonghan Lee, Mary Beth Rosson, John M. Carroll, Vijaykrishnan Narayanan (2020) — Proceedings of the 22nd International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS 2020)

  This paper presents AIGuide, a self-contained offline iOS smartphone application that uses augmented reality (ARKit) to help people with visual impairments locate, navigate to, and pick up objects in their surroundings. Unlike existing object detecti…

  • visual accessibility
  • augmented reality
  • blindness and low vision
  • mobile accessibility
  • computer vision
  • assistive technology
  • multimodal interaction
  • independent living

• Supporting Older Adults in Locating Mobile Interface Features with Voice Input

  Ja Eun Yu, Debaleena Chattopadhyay (2020) — Proceedings of the 22nd International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS 2020)

  This demonstration paper presents a voice assistant system built on Android that helps older adults locate specific features on complex mobile interfaces by speaking natural language queries. The system addresses a well-documented challenge: older ad…

  • aging
  • mobile accessibility
  • voice interface
  • user interface design
  • assistive technology
  • speech recognition
  • usability