Literature Reviews

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

• A Web-Based User Survey for Evaluating Power Saving Strategies for Deaf Users of MobileASL

  Jessica J. Tran, Tressa W. Johnson, Joy Kim, Rafael Rodriguez, Sheri Yin, Eve A. Riskin, Richard E. Ladner, Jacob O. Wobbrock (2010) — Proceedings of the 12th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS 2010)

  This paper presents research on power-saving video compression algorithms for MobileASL, a project enabling real-time, two-way video communication on mobile phones so Deaf people can communicate in American Sign Language. Running video calls drains p…

  • deaf and hard of hearing
  • sign language
  • American Sign Language
  • mobile technology
  • video compression
  • video communication
  • battery life
  • accessible survey design
  • deaf culture

• An Evaluation of Video Intelligibility for Novice American Sign Language Learners on a Mobile Device

  Kimberly A. Weaver, Thad Starner, Harley Hamilton (2010) — Proceedings of the 12th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS 2010)

  This paper investigates what video resolution is necessary for novice signers to learn American Sign Language (ASL) from video on a mobile device. The motivation is deeply practical: approximately 77% of deaf children are born to hearing parents who …

  • American Sign Language
  • deaf education
  • mobile learning
  • video intelligibility
  • computer-assisted language learning
  • sign language

• Modeling and Synthesizing Spatially Inflected Verbs for American Sign Language Animations

  Matt Huenerfauth, Pengfei Lu (2010) — Proceedings of the 12th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS 2010)

  This paper presents a novel computational method for automatically synthesizing animations of American Sign Language (ASL) verbs that undergo spatial inflection — a grammatical process where verb motion paths change based on the 3D locations in space…

  • American Sign Language
  • sign language animation
  • deaf accessibility
  • natural language generation
  • avatar
  • spatial inflection
  • machine learning
  • computer animation

• Evaluating Importance of Facial Expression in American Sign Language and Pidgin Signed English Animations

  Matt Huenerfauth, Pengfei Lu, Andrew Rosenberg (2011) — Proceedings of the 13th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS 2011)

  This paper presents the first empirical evaluation of the impact of facial expressions on the understandability and perceived quality of American Sign Language (ASL) and Pidgin Signed English (PSE) computer animations. ASL animations have significant…

  • sign language
  • sign language animation
  • deaf accessibility
  • facial expression
  • American Sign Language
  • assistive technology
  • natural language processing

• The Vlogging Phenomena: A Deaf Perspective

  Ellen S. Hibbard, Deb I. Fels (2011) — The Proceedings of the 13th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS)

  This paper examines how Deaf people use video blogging (vlogging) technology to communicate in American Sign Language (ASL) on mainstream and specialized platforms. The researchers compared vlogging practices on YouTube, a mainstream video-sharing si…

  • deaf accessibility
  • sign language
  • video accessibility
  • social media
  • Deaf Culture
  • online communities
  • American Sign Language
  • vlogging

• Evaluating Quality and Comprehension of Real-Time Sign Language Video on Mobile Phones

  Jessica J. Tran, Joy Kim, Jaehong Chon, Eve A. Riskin, Richard E. Ladner, Jacob O. Wobbrock (2011) — Proceedings of the 13th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS 2011)

  This paper investigates the relationship between objective video quality metrics (PSNR — peak signal-to-noise ratio), subjective quality preferences, and actual comprehension of American Sign Language (ASL) video transmitted at very low bitrates on m…

  • deaf
  • American Sign Language
  • video compression
  • mobile accessibility
  • video quality
  • telecommunications
  • sign language

• Effect of Presenting Video as a Baseline During an American Sign Language Animation User Study

  Pengfei Lu, Hernisa Kacorri (2012) — Proceedings of the 14th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS '12)

  This paper investigates a methodological question central to sign language animation research: what type of upper baseline should be used when evaluating synthesized American Sign Language (ASL) animations? The authors laboratory at CUNY had previous…

  • sign language animation
  • American Sign Language
  • user study methodology
  • evaluation baselines
  • deaf accessibility
  • virtual humans

• A Web-Based Intelligibility Evaluation of Sign Language Video Transmitted at Low Frame Rates and Bitrates

  Jessica J. Tran, Rafael Rodriguez, Eve A. Riskin, Jacob O. Wobbrock (2013) — Proceedings of the 15th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS)

  This paper evaluates the perceived lower limits of intelligible sign language video for mobile communication, testing how much video quality can be sacrificed while maintaining comprehensibility for ASL users. The ITU-T recommends sign language video…

  • sign language
  • American Sign Language
  • deaf accessibility
  • video compression
  • frame rate
  • bitrate
  • telecommunications accessibility
  • video quality
  • mobile video

• Comparing Native Signers' Perception of American Sign Language Animations and Videos via Eye Tracking

  Hernisa Kacorri, Allen Harper, Matt Huenerfauth (2013) — Proceedings of the 15th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS)

  This paper investigates whether eye tracking can serve as an alternative or complementary evaluation method for assessing the quality of synthesized American Sign Language (ASL) animations. Computer-generated ASL animations offer accessibility benefi…

  • sign language
  • American Sign Language
  • animation
  • eye tracking
  • deaf accessibility
  • facial expression
  • user study
  • sign language synthesis

• ASL-STEM Forum: Enabling Sign Language to Grow Through Online Collaboration

  Anna C. Cavender, Daniel S. Otero, Jeffrey P. Bigham, Richard E. Ladner (2010) — CHI '10: Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems

  This paper presents the ASL-STEM Forum, the first online video-based collaboration tool designed to help expand American Sign Language (ASL) vocabulary for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) fields. The paper addresses a signifi…

  • American Sign Language
  • deaf education
  • STEM accessibility
  • online collaboration
  • video forums
  • language development
  • crowdsourcing