Literature Reviews
Reviewed research papers, articles, and publications relevant to digital accessibility.
94 results found tagged navigation.
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Back Navigation Shortcuts for Screen Reader Users
This paper introduces two novel back navigation strategies — topic-based back and list-based back — designed to make backtracking through previously visited web pages dramatically more efficient for screen reader users. The fundamental problem is tha…
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"Pray Before You Step Out": Describing Personal and Situational Blind Navigation Behaviors
This paper presents a formative study exploring how 30 adults with vision impairments use technology and personal strategies to navigate both indoor and outdoor environments. Rather than introducing new navigation technology, the research aims to bui…
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Uncovering Information Needs for Independent Spatial Learning for Users Who Are Visually Impaired
This paper presents two studies examining how visually impaired individuals learn about their environments and build cognitive maps — the mental representations of spatial relationships that sighted people largely construct through casual visual obse…
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Improving Public Transit Accessibility for Blind Riders by Crowdsourcing Bus Stop Landmark Locations with Google Street View
This paper introduces Bus Stop CSI (Crowdsourcing Streetview Inspections), a scalable method for collecting bus stop location and landmark descriptions by combining online crowdsourcing with Google Street View (GSV). Blind and low-vision bus riders r…
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Headlock: A Wearable Navigation Aid that Helps Blind Cane Users Traverse Large Open Spaces
This paper presents HEADLOCK, a navigation aid for optical head-mounted displays (OHMDs) like Google Glass that helps blind cane users traverse large open spaces—environments that are particularly challenging because they lack the tactile features (w…
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Exploring Visual and Motor Accessibility in Navigating a Virtual World
This paper explores accessibility requirements for 3D virtual worlds, using PowerUp—an educational multiplayer game teaching middle schoolers about renewable energy—as a testbed. Virtual worlds present unique accessibility challenges: they rely on vi…
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Orienting Kinesthetically: A Haptic Handheld Wayfinder for People with Visual Impairments
This paper presents a novel haptic direction indicator that provides real-time navigational guidance through kinesthetic cues rather than audio or vibrotactile feedback. The device exploits a perceptual phenomenon called the "pseudo-attraction force …
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Tactile Working Memory Capacity of Users Who Are Blind in an Electronic Travel Aid Application with a Vibration Belt
This paper investigates the tactile working memory capacity of users who are blind when using a vibrotactile belt for electronic travel aid (ETA) applications. ETAs that display obstacle information through vibration belts require users to integrate …
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Experimental Analysis of a Spatialised Audio Interface for People with Visual Impairments
This paper evaluates a spatialised audio interface designed to help people with visual impairments find objects in indoor environments. Part of the ActiVis project, the system uses a Google Project Tango mobile device with RGB-D cameras for localizat…
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Creating Accessible Online Floor Plans for Visually Impaired Readers
This paper presents a generic model for converting online graphics—specifically house floor plans—into accessible formats for blind and severely vision-impaired users. The model supports both fully automatic and semi-automatic transcription, allowing…