Literature Reviews

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

• Sensory Glasses for the Visually Impaired

  Michael Barney, Jonathan Kilner, Gilmar Brito, Aida Araújo, Meuse Nogueira (2017) — Proceedings of the 14th International Web for All Conference (W4A)

  This demonstration paper presents the design and development of a low-cost wearable assistive device — sensory glasses — intended to help visually impaired people navigate their surroundings. The device addresses a well-known limitation of the tradit…

  • assistive technology
  • blindness
  • wearable technology
  • sonification
  • navigation
  • sensory substitution
  • binaural audio

• Exploring Haptic Colour Identification Aids

  Richard Nguyen, Connor Geddes (2019) — Proceedings of the 21st International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS)

  This poster paper presents two novel haptic devices — ColourWrist and ColourVest — designed to help people with Colour Vision Deficiency (CVD) identify colors through tactile feedback. Approximately 8% of males and 0.5% of females have some form of C…

  • colour vision deficiency
  • haptic feedback
  • sensory substitution
  • wearable technology
  • vibrotactile
  • color blindness
  • assistive technology
  • color identification

• Keep Your Distance: A Playful Haptic Navigation Wearable for Individuals with Deafblindness

  James Gay, Moritz Umfahrer, Arthur Theil, Lea Buchweitz, Eva Lindell, Li Guo, Nils-Krister Persson, Oliver Korn (2020) — Proceedings of the 22nd International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS 2020)

  This demonstration paper presents a haptic wearable vest designed to support independent navigation for people with deafblindness — a dual sensory impairment where the combination of sight and hearing loss makes it difficult for one sense to compensa…

  • deafblindness
  • haptic technology
  • vibrotactile feedback
  • navigation
  • wearable technology
  • sensory substitution
  • assistive technology
  • wayfinding
  • e-textiles

• Designing Gestures for Digital Musical Instruments: Gesture Elicitation Study with Deaf and Hard of Hearing People

  Ryo Iijima, Akihisa Shitara, Yoichi Ochiai (2022) — Proceedings of the 24th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS '22)

  This study addresses a gap in how deaf and hard of hearing (DHH) people can enjoy playing musical instruments using smartphones. While DHH people can and do enjoy music — often sensing it through vibrations transmitted by instruments or through body …

  • deaf and hard of hearing
  • music accessibility
  • gesture elicitation
  • digital musical instruments
  • haptic feedback
  • mobile accessibility
  • sensory substitution
  • user-centered design

• Translating Color: Sonification as a Method of Sensory Substitution within the Museum

  Silvia Dini, Luca Andrea Ludovico, Sergio Mascetti, Maria Joaquina Valero Gisbert (2023) — Proceedings of the 20th International Web for All Conference (W4A)

  This extended abstract proposes using sonification — the technique of translating data into sound — to make the chromatic elements of contemporary artworks accessible to people with visual impairments or blindness (VIB). The research addresses a fund…

  • sonification
  • museum accessibility
  • visual impairment
  • sensory substitution
  • art accessibility
  • multimodal
  • audio description
  • cultural accessibility

• Sonic Agency: A Group Autoethnography of Technology-mediated Performance Practice by Deaf and Hard of Hearing Musicians

  Doga Cavdir, Dillon Simone, Myles de Bastion, Shawn Trail, Nate Hergert (2025) — ASSETS 2025: 27th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility

  This paper presents a 15-month group autoethnography conducted by a mixed-hearing team of five researchers and musicians affiliated with CymaSpace, a Deaf-owned music and culture institution in Portland, Oregon. The study examines how d/Deaf and Hard…

  • deaf and hard of hearing
  • musical accessibility
  • autoethnography
  • haptic feedback
  • assistive music technology
  • sensory substitution
  • creative practice
  • deaf culture

• SoundHapticVR: Head-Based Spatial Haptic Feedback for Accessible Sounds in Virtual Reality for Deaf and Hard of Hearing Users

  Pratheep Kumar Chelladurai, Ziming Li, Maximilian Weber, Tae Oh, Roshan L Peiris (2024) — ASSETS '24: Proceedings of the 26th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility

  This paper presents SoundHapticVR, a head-based haptic feedback system that converts spatial audio cues in virtual reality into vibrotactile feedback for Deaf and Hard of Hearing (DHH) users. VR environments rely heavily on spatial audio to convey cr…

  • deaf and hard of hearing
  • haptics
  • virtual reality
  • sound localization
  • sensory substitution
  • spatial audio
  • head-mounted display