Literature Reviews

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

• PLUMB: Displaying Graphs to the Blind Using an Active Auditory Interface

  Robert F. Cohen, Rui Yu, Arthur Meacham, Joelle Skaff (2005) — Proceedings of the 7th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (Assets '05)

  This short paper presents PLUMB (exPLoring graphs at UMB), a system developed at UMass Boston that enables blind users to explore relational graphs through an active auditory interface on a tablet PC. The system addresses a fundamental barrier in com…

  • sonification
  • graph accessibility
  • blindness
  • auditory interface
  • computer science education
  • non-visual interaction
  • data visualization
  • STEM accessibility

• Talking Braille: A Wireless Ubiquitous Computing Network for Orientation and Wayfinding

  David A. Ross, Alexander Lightman (2005) — Proceedings of the 7th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (Assets '05)

  This paper presents the design and initial evaluation of the Talking Braille system, a wireless ubiquitous computing network designed to help people with vision loss navigate indoor public spaces. The system is built around the "Cyber Crumb" concept:…

  • wayfinding
  • orientation
  • blindness
  • ubiquitous computing
  • indoor navigation
  • assistive technology
  • braille
  • wireless networks

• Automatic Production of Tactile Graphics from Scalable Vector Graphics

  Stephen E. Krufka, Kenneth E. Barner (2005) — Proceedings of the 7th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (Assets '05)

  This paper from the University of Delaware presents a method for automatically converting Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) into tactile representations for blind users using a Braille embosser. The key innovation exploits the hierarchical tree structur…

  • tactile graphics
  • blindness
  • scalable vector graphics
  • braille embosser
  • image accessibility
  • edge detection
  • image processing
  • accessible graphics
  • web accessibility

• 3D Sound Interactive Environments for Problem Solving

  Jaime Sánchez, Mauricio Sáenz (2005) — Proceedings of the 7th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (Assets '05)

  This paper from the University of Chile presents AudioChile, a 3D sound virtual environment designed to help children with visual disabilities develop problem-solving skills through interactive exploration of Chilean geography and culture. AudioChile…

  • spatial audio
  • visual impairment
  • blindness
  • audio game
  • cognitive development
  • problem solving
  • education
  • game accessibility
  • non-visual interaction
  • children

• Improving the Accessibility of Aurally Rendered HTML Tables

  Robert Filepp, James Challenger, Daniela Rosu (2002) — Proceedings of the Fifth International ACM Conference on Assistive Technologies (Assets 02)

  This paper from IBM's T.J. Watson Research Center proposes TTPML (Table To Prose Markup Language), an XML-compliant markup language designed to transform HTML tables into intelligible prose descriptions for blind and visually impaired users. The auth…

  • web accessibility
  • tables
  • aural rendering
  • screen reader
  • XML
  • markup language
  • blindness
  • table linearization

• Sketching Images Eyes-Free: A Grid-Based Dynamic Drawing Tool for the Blind

  Hesham M. Kamel, James A. Landay (2002) — Proceedings of the Fifth International ACM Conference on Assistive Technologies (Assets 02)

  This paper presents IC2D (Integrated Communication 2 Draw), a keyboard-operated drawing tool that enables blind users to create and explore graphical images using a grid-based auditory interface. The system divides the screen into a 3x3 grid mapped t…

  • blindness
  • drawing
  • graphics
  • auditory interface
  • grid-based interface
  • nonvisual interaction
  • creativity
  • user study

• Auditory and Tactile Interfaces for Representing the Visual Effects on the Web

  Chieko Asakawa, Hironobu Takagi, Shuichi Ino, Tohru Ifukube (2002) — Proceedings of the Fifth International ACM Conference on Assistive Technologies (Assets 02)

  This paper from IBM Japan and Hokkaido University explores how blind users can perceive the visual structure and emphasis effects of web pages through auditory and tactile interfaces. The researchers identified a critical gap: modern web pages increa…

  • sonification
  • tactile interface
  • blindness
  • web accessibility
  • nonvisual interaction
  • visual effects
  • screen reader
  • multimodal interaction

• Reading and Writing Mathematics: The MAVIS Project

  A. I. Karshmer, G. Gupta, S. Geiiger, C. Weaver (1998) — Proceedings of the Third International ACM Conference on Assistive Technologies (Assets '98)

  This paper from New Mexico State University presents the MAVIS (Mathematics Accessible to Visually Impaired Students) project, an NSF-funded effort to develop comprehensive tools for bidirectional communication of mathematics between blind students a…

  • mathematical accessibility
  • STEM accessibility
  • Nemeth code
  • LaTeX
  • blindness
  • braille
  • sonification
  • language translation
  • assistive technology
  • education

• A Web Navigation Tool for the Blind

  Mary Zajicek, Chris Powell, Chris Reeves (1998) — Proceedings of the Third International ACM Conference on Assistive Technologies (Assets '98)

  This short paper from Oxford Brookes University and the Royal National Institute for the Blind (RNIB) presents BrookesTalk, a prototype speech-output web browser designed to help blind users make rapid decisions about whether a web page is useful to …

  • web accessibility
  • blindness
  • information retrieval
  • screen readers
  • text summarization
  • nonvisual web access
  • web browsers

• Auditory Navigation in Hyperspace: Design and Evaluation of a Non-Visual Hypermedia System for Blind Users

  Sarah Morley, Helen Petrie, Anne-Marie O'Neill, Peter McNally (1998) — Proceedings of the Third International ACM Conference on Assistive Technologies (Assets '98)

  This paper from the University of Hertfordshire's Sensory Disabilities Research Unit presents the design and rigorous evaluation of DAHNI (Demonstrator of the ACCESS media Non-Visual Interface), a hypermedia system built specifically for blind users …

  • auditory interface
  • blindness
  • non-speech sounds
  • hypermedia
  • nonvisual navigation
  • user-centred design
  • evaluation methodology
  • assistive technology
  • earcons