Literature Reviews

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

• CareHub: Smart Screen VUI and Home Appliances Control for Older Adults

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

  This demonstration paper presents CareHub, a smart screen prototype that augments voice user interfaces (VUIs) with complementary visual output to help older adults control home appliances more effectively. The research was conducted at the Rhode Isl…

  • voice user interface
  • older adults
  • smart home
  • aging in place
  • multimodal interaction
  • usability
  • error recovery
  • home appliances

• The Role of Sensory Changes in Everyday Technology use by People with Mild to Moderate Dementia

  Emma Dixon, Amanda Lazar (2020) — Proceedings of the 22nd International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS 2020)

  This qualitative study investigates how sensory changes associated with dementia interact with everyday technology use — a topic almost entirely overlooked in prior research, which has focused predominantly on cognitive support such as memory aids, t…

  • dementia
  • sensory changes
  • everyday technology
  • personalization
  • cognitive accessibility
  • aging
  • assistive technology
  • sensory processing

• Designing Embodied Musical Interaction for Children with Autism

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

  This paper presents OSMoSIS (Observation of Social Motor Synchrony with an Interactive System), an interactive musical system designed to support embodied musical interaction for children with Autism Spectrum Conditions (ASC) during music therapy ses…

  • autism
  • music therapy
  • embodied interaction
  • motion capture
  • sonification
  • social motor synchrony
  • children
  • assistive technology
  • Microsoft Kinect

• Teaching ASL Signs using Signing Avatars and Immersive Learning in Virtual Reality

  Lorna C. Quandt, Jason Lamberton, Athena S. Willis, Jianye Wang, Kaitlyn Weeks, Emily Kubicek, Melissa Malzkuhn (2020) — Proceedings of the 22nd International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS 2020)

  This demonstration paper presents SAIL (Signing Avatars & Immersive Learning), the first ASL instructional system built for immersive virtual reality. Developed at Gallaudet University by a majority-Deaf team, SAIL uses a signing avatar — a computer-…

  • sign language
  • American Sign Language
  • virtual reality
  • signing avatars
  • motion capture
  • embodied learning
  • Deaf accessibility
  • language learning
  • gesture tracking

• Value beyond function: analyzing the perception of wheelchair innovations in Kenya

  Giulia Barbareschi, Sibylle Daymond, Jake Honeywill, Aneesha Singh, Dominic Noble, Nancy N. Mbugua, Ian Harris, Victoria Austin, Catherine Holloway (2020) — Proceedings of the 22nd International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS 2020)

  This study evaluates a novel wheelchair service provision model called InnovATe, developed by Motivation UK, that uses Computer Aided Design (CAD) and 3D printing to manufacture bespoke wheelchairs in Kenya. Over five months at the Bethany Kids rehab…

  • wheelchairs
  • assistive technology
  • 3D printing
  • emotional design
  • service delivery
  • disability identity
  • Global South
  • participatory design
  • customization

• Bridging the Divide: Exploring the use of digital and physical technology to aid mobility impaired people living in an informal settlement

  Giulia Barbareschi, Ben Oldfrey, Long Xin, Grace Nyachomba Magomere, Wycliffe Ambeyi Wetende, Carol Wanjira, Joyce Olenja, Victoria Austin, Catherine Holloway (2020) — Proceedings of the 22nd International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS 2020)

  This qualitative study examines how people with mobility impairments living in Kibera, one of the largest informal settlements in Nairobi, Kenya, use both traditional assistive technology (wheelchairs and tricycles) and digital technology (mobile pho…

  • mobility impairment
  • assistive technology
  • wheelchairs
  • mobile phones
  • informal settlements
  • Global South
  • human infrastructure
  • interdependence
  • ICT4D
  • low-resource settings

• Exploring Collection of Sign Language Datasets: Privacy, Participation, and Model Performance

  Danielle Bragg, Oscar Koller, Naomi Caselli, William Thies (2020) — Proceedings of the 22nd International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS 2020)

  This paper tackles a fundamental tension in building machine learning systems for marginalized communities: the need for large training datasets versus the privacy risks of collecting data from small, identifiable populations. The authors focus on si…

  • sign language
  • privacy
  • machine learning
  • data collection
  • Deaf culture
  • computer vision
  • sign language recognition

• TableView: Enabling Efficient Access to Web Data Records for Screen-Magnifier Users

  Hae-Na Lee, Sami Uddin, Vikas Ashok (2020) — Proceedings of the 22nd International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS 2020)

  This paper addresses a significant usability challenge faced by people with low vision who use screen magnifiers to browse the web: the difficulty of comparing data records on websites such as job listings, flight search results, shopping products, a…

  • low vision
  • screen magnifier
  • web accessibility
  • usability
  • browser extension
  • data records
  • information extraction
  • assistive technology

• Teaching Digital Fabrication to Early Intervention Specialists for Designing Their Own Tools

  Florian Güldenpfennig, Peter Fikar, Roman Ganhör (2020) — Proceedings of the 22nd International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS '20)

  This demonstration paper describes a co-design project in which researchers from New Design University and TU Wien taught basic digital fabrication skills to four experienced early intervention therapists who work with children with cerebral visual i…

  • digital fabrication
  • DIY assistive technology
  • co-design
  • early intervention
  • cerebral visual impairment
  • therapeutic toys
  • children
  • visual impairment
  • maker culture
  • participatory design

• Accessible conversational user interfaces: considerations for design

  Kate Lister, Tim Coughlan, Francisco Iniesto, Nick Freear, Peter Devine (2020) — Proceedings of the 17th International Web for All Conference (W4A)

  This paper presents the first comprehensive review of accessibility considerations for conversational user interfaces (CUIs) — a category that includes chatbots, voice-activated personal assistants (like Amazon Alexa and Apple Siri), interactive voic…

  • conversational user interfaces
  • chatbots
  • voice assistants
  • cognitive accessibility
  • mental health
  • autism
  • inclusive design
  • universal design