Literature Reviews

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

• Comparing Tactile, Auditory, and Visual Assembly Error-Feedback for Workers with Cognitive Impairments

  Thomas Kosch, Romina Kettner, Markus Funk, Albrecht Schmidt (2016) — Proceedings of the 18th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS '16)

  This paper compares three modalities of error feedback — tactile, auditory, and visual — for cognitively impaired workers performing manual assembly tasks at sheltered work organizations. Industrial manufacturing companies increasingly outsource asse…

  • cognitive accessibility
  • intellectual disability
  • workplace accessibility
  • assistive technology
  • multimodal interaction
  • haptic technology
  • augmented reality
  • disability employment

• Technology-Mediated Sight: A Case Study of Early Adopters of a Low Vision Assistive Technology

  Annuska Zolyomi, Anushree Shukla, Jaime Snyder (2017) — Proceedings of the 19th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS)

  This qualitative case study examines the psychosocial and adaptive experiences of early adopters of the eSight 2.0 — a head-mounted assistive device for people with low vision that captures live video and displays enhanced images on high-resolution O…

  • low vision
  • assistive technology
  • head-mounted display
  • qualitative research
  • disability identity
  • social accessibility
  • wearable technology
  • augmented reality

• Design of an Augmented Reality Magnification Aid for Low Vision Users

  Lee Stearns, Leah Findlater, Jon E. Froehlich (2018) — Proceedings of the 20th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS '18)

  This paper explores the design space for augmented reality magnification aids for people with low vision, developing and iteratively refining two prototype systems using the Microsoft HoloLens. Unlike existing head-mounted displays that simply magnif…

  • low vision
  • augmented reality
  • magnification
  • wearable technology
  • head-mounted display
  • assistive technology
  • iterative design
  • Microsoft HoloLens

• Towards Accessible Conversations in a Mobile Context for People who are Deaf and Hard of Hearing

  Dhruv Jain, Rachel Franz, Leah Findlater, Jackson Cannon, Raja Kushalnagar, Jon Froehlich (2018) — Proceedings of the 20th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS '18)

  This paper presents two studies examining the communication needs of deaf and hard of hearing (DHH) people in mobile contexts (walking, transit, recreational activities) and the potential for head-mounted display (HMD) captions to address those needs…

  • deaf and hard of hearing
  • real-time captioning
  • augmented reality
  • head-mounted display
  • mobile accessibility
  • conversations
  • HoloLens
  • visual attention split

• Can a Blind Person Understand Your World?

  Chieko Asakawa (2014) — Proceedings of the 11th Web for All Conference (W4A)

  This keynote paper by Chieko Asakawa of IBM Research presents a vision for the next frontier of accessibility for blind people: moving from digital information access to real-world understanding through cognitive computing. Asakawa charts the exponen…

  • blindness
  • cognitive assistance
  • image recognition
  • computer vision
  • machine learning
  • crowdsourcing
  • assistive technology
  • navigation
  • augmented reality

• WebSight: Using AR and WebGL shaders to assist the visually impaired

  Dan Ruta, Louis Jordan, Tom James Fox, Rich Boakes (2018) — Proceedings of the 15th International Web for All Conference (W4A 2018)

  This demonstration paper presents WebSight, a browser-based augmented reality system that uses WebGL shaders to process a smartphone’s live camera feed in real time, enhancing visual features to assist people with low vision in navigating real-world …

  • augmented reality
  • low vision
  • visual impairment
  • WebGL
  • edge detection
  • progressive web app
  • virtual reality
  • image processing
  • navigation
  • contrast enhancement

• Leveraging Augmented Reality to Create Apps for People with Visual Disabilities: A Case Study in Indoor Navigation

  Chris Yoon, Ryan Louie, Jeremy Ryan, MinhKhang Vu, Hyegi Bang, William Derksen, Paul Ruvolo (2019) — Proceedings of the 21st International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS 2019)

  This paper presents Clew, an iOS app that leverages Apple’s ARKit augmented reality framework to help people who are blind or visually impaired (B/VI) navigate indoor environments — a setting where GPS is unreliable (accuracy drops to ~5m+ indoors). …

  • augmented reality
  • indoor navigation
  • orientation and mobility
  • blind
  • low vision
  • visual inertial odometry
  • ARKit
  • mobile accessibility
  • wayfinding
  • haptic feedback

• Delivering Sign Language in a Live Planetarium Show Using Head-Mounted Displays and Infrared Light

  Michael D. Jones, M. Jeannette Lawler (2019) — Proceedings of the 21st International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS 2019)

  This paper presents a system for delivering real-time American Sign Language (ASL) narration during live planetarium shows using head-mounted displays (HMDs) and infrared light. Planetariums pose unique accessibility challenges for deaf and hard-of-h…

  • sign language
  • deaf and hard of hearing
  • head-mounted display
  • augmented reality
  • informal learning
  • museum accessibility
  • STEM education
  • ASL

• Supporting Older Adults in Using Complex User Interfaces with Augmented Reality

  Junhan Kong, Anhong Guo, Jeffrey P. Bigham (2019) — Proceedings of the 21st International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS)

  This demonstration paper presents an augmented reality system that provides step-by-step visual guidance to help older adults navigate complex user interfaces. The core problem is that older adults frequently struggle with complex digital interfaces …

  • older adults
  • aging
  • augmented reality
  • cognitive support
  • user interface
  • tutorial systems
  • computer vision
  • step-by-step guidance
  • digital literacy
  • assistive technology

• Chat in the Hat: A Portable Interpreter for Sign Language Users

  Larwan Berke, William Thies, Danielle Bragg (2020) — Proceedings of the 22nd International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS)

  This paper addresses a fundamental limitation of Video Remote Interpreting (VRI) for Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing (DHH) sign language users: existing smartphone-based VRI requires the DHH person to either hold the phone with one hand (reducing signing to…

  • deaf and hard of hearing
  • sign language
  • video remote interpreting
  • augmented reality
  • workplace accessibility
  • wearable technology
  • ASL