Literature Reviews

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

• User Interface of a Home Page Reader

  Chieko Asakawa, Takashi Itoh (1998) — Proceedings of the Third International ACM Conference on Assistive Technologies (Assets '98)

  This paper from IBM Japan's Tokyo Research Laboratory describes the design and evaluation of Home Page Reader, one of the earliest dedicated web browsers for blind users, which became an IBM Japan product in October 1997. The paper opens by framing t…

  • screen readers
  • web accessibility
  • blindness
  • text-to-speech
  • nonvisual web access
  • user interface design
  • assistive technology

• PowerUp: An Accessible Virtual World

  Shari Trewin, Vicki L. Hanson, Mark R. Laff, Anna Cavender (2008) — Proceedings of the 10th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (Assets '08)

  This paper describes the design and validation of accessibility features for PowerUp, an IBM-developed multiplayer 3D virtual world educational game aimed at middle school students. The researchers were tasked with making the game usable by players w…

  • game accessibility
  • virtual reality
  • visual impairment
  • blindness
  • cognitive accessibility
  • motor disability
  • deaf and hard of hearing
  • inclusive design
  • navigation
  • self-voicing interface
  • sonification

• Freedom to Roam: A Study of Mobile Device Adoption and Accessibility for People with Visual and Motor Disabilities

  Shaun K. Kane, Chandrika Jayant, Jacob O. Wobbrock, Richard E. Ladner (2009) — Proceedings of the 11th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (Assets '09)

  This paper presents a two-method qualitative study examining how people with visual and motor disabilities select, adapt, and use mobile devices in their daily lives. The researchers interviewed 20 participants (ages 20-66) with visual disabilities (…

  • mobile accessibility
  • visual impairment
  • motor impairment
  • blindness
  • low vision
  • diary study
  • assistive technology
  • adaptive strategies

• Rock Vibe: Rock Band® Computer Games for People with No or Limited Vision

  Troy Allman, Rupinder K. Dhillon, Molly A.E. Landau, Sri H. Kurniawan (2009) — Proceedings of the 11th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (Assets '09)

  This paper presents Rock Vibe, a modification of the commercial Rock Band® video game that replaces visual cues with haptic vibrations and audio feedback to enable people with no or limited vision to play the drumming component. The system uses an Ar…

  • game accessibility
  • visual impairment
  • blindness
  • haptic feedback
  • sensory substitution
  • inclusive design
  • music accessibility

• A System of Clothes Matching for Visually Impaired Persons

  Shuai Yuan (2010) — Proceedings of the 12th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS 2010)

  This short paper presents a proof-of-concept computer vision system designed to help blind and visually impaired people determine whether two clothing items match in both color and pattern. The system addresses a common daily living challenge: select…

  • computer vision
  • blindness
  • visual impairment
  • daily living
  • independent living
  • assistive technology
  • color detection
  • pattern recognition

• In-Situ Study of Blind Individuals Listening to Audio-Visual Contents

  Claude Chapdelaine (2010) — Proceedings of the 12th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS 2010)

  This paper presents an in-situ observational study examining how ten legally blind individuals (WHO levels 3-5) listen to and comprehend audio-visual content such as films, television dramas, and science reports. The research aims to understand the t…

  • audio description
  • video description
  • visual impairment
  • blindness
  • residual vision
  • multimedia accessibility
  • video accessibility
  • user research

• Improving Public Transit Usability for Blind and Deaf-Blind People by Connecting a Braille Display to a Smartphone

  Shiri Azenkot, Emily Fortuna (2010) — Proceedings of the 12th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS 2010)

  This short paper explores the public transit challenges faced by blind and deaf-blind people and presents MoBraille, a novel framework that connects any Wi-Fi-enabled Braille display to an Android smartphone. The authors conducted semi-structured int…

  • deafblindness
  • blindness
  • braille display
  • public transit accessibility
  • mobile accessibility
  • participatory design
  • assistive technology
  • navigation

• A Tactile Windowing System for Blind Users

  Denise Prescher, Gerhard Weber, Martin Spindler (2010) — Proceedings of the 12th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS 2010)

  This paper from Technische Universität Dresden presents the Braille Window System (BWS), a windowing interface designed for a large planar tactile display — the BrailleDis9000, a touch-sensitive pin-matrix of 120 columns and 60 rows (7,200 pins). Sta…

  • braille
  • tactile display
  • tactile graphics
  • gesture interaction
  • blindness
  • screen reader
  • windowing system
  • GUI accessibility
  • pin-matrix display
  • multitouch

• Vi-Bowling: A Tactile Spatial Exergame for Individuals with Visual Impairments

  Tony Morelli, John Foley, Eelke Folmer (2010) — Proceedings of the 12th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS 2010)

  This paper presents VI Bowling, an accessible exergame (exercise video game) for blind and visually impaired players that introduces tactile dowsing — a novel interaction technique using vibrotactile feedback from a Nintendo Wii remote to perform spa…

  • exergame
  • visual impairment
  • haptic technology
  • game accessibility
  • physical activity
  • sensory substitution
  • motor learning
  • blindness
  • Wii remote
  • tactile feedback

• Evaluating a Tool for Improving Accessibility to Charts and Graphs

  Leo Ferres, Gitte Lindgaard, Livia Sumegi (2010) — Proceedings of the 12th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS 2010)

  This paper presents two formative usability studies of iGraph-Lite, a natural language-based assistive technology that enables blind and visually impaired people to interact with statistical line graphs through keyboard commands and text-to-speech ou…

  • data visualization
  • blindness
  • natural language generation
  • information graphics
  • screen readers
  • text-to-speech
  • usability evaluation
  • graph accessibility