Literature Reviews

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

• Using a Computer Intervention to Support Phonological Awareness Development of Nonspeaking Adults

  Ha Trinh (2011) — The Proceedings of the 13th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS 2011)

  This short paper presents a pilot study investigating whether a computer-based intervention delivered on an iPad can help adults with severe speech and physical impairments (SSPI) develop phonological awareness — the ability to identify and manipulat…

  • phonological awareness
  • literacy
  • severe speech and physical impairments
  • computer-based intervention
  • iPad
  • cerebral palsy
  • AAC
  • mainstream technology

• SymbolPath: A Continuous Motion Overlay Module for Icon-Based Assistive Communication

  Karl Wiegand, Rupal Patel (2012) — Proceedings of the 14th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS 2012)

  This demonstration paper introduces SymbolPath, an overlay module designed to improve the speed and ease of message formulation in icon-based augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) systems. Traditional icon-based AAC devices require users t…

  • augmentative and alternative communication
  • AAC
  • motor impairment
  • speech impairment
  • icon-based communication
  • continuous motion input
  • text-to-speech
  • natural language processing
  • touch screen

• Optimization of Switch Keyboards

  Xiao (Cosmo) Zhang, Kan Fang, Gregory Francis (2013) — Proceedings of the 15th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (Assets '13)

  This short paper presents a method for optimizing the character layout of switch keyboards used by people with severe motor control difficulties, including those with locked-in syndrome resulting from spinal cord or brain injury. Switch keyboards wor…

  • switch access
  • text entry
  • motor disability
  • locked-in syndrome
  • keyboard optimization
  • scanning
  • AAC
  • assistive technology
  • spinal cord injury

• Improved Inference and Autotyping in EEG-based BCI Typing Systems

  Andrew Fowler, Brian Roark, Umut Orhan, Deniz Erdogmus, Melanie Fried-Oken (2013) — Proceedings of the 15th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (Assets '13)

  This paper presents improvements to the RSVP Keyboard, a brain-computer interface (BCI) typing system designed for people with severe motor disabilities, particularly those with locked-in syndrome (LIS) resulting from ALS or brain stem stroke who can…

  • brain-computer interface
  • BCI
  • EEG
  • text entry
  • locked-in syndrome
  • ALS
  • AAC
  • language models
  • P300
  • assistive technology
  • motor disability

• Conversational Agency in Augmentative and Alternative Communication

  Stephanie Valencia, Amy Pavel, Jared Santa Maria, Seunga (Gloria) Yu, Jeffrey P. Bigham, Henny Admoni (2020) — CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems

  This paper introduces conversational agency as a new framework for studying how augmented communicators (ACs) — people who use AAC devices to speak — participate in and influence conversations. While prior AAC research has focused primarily on improv…

  • AAC
  • augmentative and alternative communication
  • cerebral palsy
  • conversational agency
  • communication partners
  • assistive technology
  • speech generating devices
  • turn-taking
  • accessibility

• Co-designing Socially Assistive Sidekicks for Motion-based AAC

  Stephanie Valencia, Michal Luria, Amy Pavel, Jeffrey P. Bigham, Henny Admoni (2021) — Proceedings of the 2021 ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction (HRI '21)

  This paper explores how socially assistive robots, framed as "sidekicks," could provide AAC users with a nonverbal channel of communication to support their conversational goals. While AAC devices enable speech-based communication through synthesized…

  • AAC
  • nonverbal communication
  • socially assistive robots
  • co-design
  • human-robot interaction
  • cerebral palsy
  • motor disability
  • participatory design

• COMPA: Using Conversation Context to Achieve Common Ground in AAC

  Stephanie Valencia, Jessica Huynh, Emma Y Jiang, Yufei Wu, Teresa Wan, Zixuan Zheng, Henny Admoni, Jeffrey P Bigham, Amy Pavel (2024) — Proceedings of the 2024 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI '24)

  This paper presents COMPA, a browser extension add-on tool designed to help AAC (Augmentative and Alternative Communication) users and their conversation partners achieve common ground during online group conversations. The core problem is speed asym…

  • AAC
  • augmentative and alternative communication
  • communication accessibility
  • group conversation
  • common ground
  • language models
  • conversation context
  • speech production disabilities

• Nonverbal Communication through Expressive Objects

  Stephanie Valencia, Mark Steidl, Michael L. Rivera, Cynthia L. Bennett, Jeffrey P. Bigham, Henny Admoni (2023) — Communications of the ACM

  This paper explores how physical motion through an expressive object — a "sidekick" — can support nonverbal communication for augmented communicators (ACs) who use AAC devices. The work centres on Mark, a co-author with cerebral palsy who has used AA…

  • AAC
  • augmentative and alternative communication
  • cerebral palsy
  • nonverbal communication
  • co-design
  • participatory design
  • assistive technology
  • motor disabilities
  • turn-taking

• DigitCHAT: Enabling AAC Input at Conversational Speed

  Karl Wiegand, Rupal Patel (2014) — Proceedings of the 16th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers & Accessibility (ASSETS 2014)

  This paper presents DigitCHAT, a prototype augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) system designed for literate users with mild upper limb motor impairments who need fast, expressive face-to-face communication on mobile phones. The authors i…

  • augmentative and alternative communication
  • AAC
  • text entry
  • mobile accessibility
  • motor impairments
  • continuous motion input
  • speech impairments
  • conversational interaction

• Motion History to Improve Communication and Switch Access for People with Severe and Multiple Disabilities

  Guang Yang, Mamoru Iwabuchi, Rumi Hirabayashi, Kenryu Nakamura, Kimihiko Taniguchi, Syoudai Sano, Takamitsu Aoki (2014) — Proceedings of the 16th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers & Accessibility (ASSETS)

  This demo paper presents the application of Motion History — a computer vision technique that visualises a user's movement history as a heat map — to support communication and switch access for people with severe and multiple disabilities. The system…

  • severe disabilities
  • multiple disabilities
  • switch access
  • computer vision
  • Kinect
  • communication
  • AAC
  • intellectual disability
  • children