Literature Reviews
Reviewed research papers, articles, and publications relevant to digital accessibility.
41 results found tagged spatial audio.
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Enabling meaningful use of AI-infused educational technologies for children with blindness: Learnings from the development and piloting of the PeopleLens curriculum
This paper presents the development and pilot evaluation of a curriculum designed to support the meaningful use of PeopleLens, an AI-powered augmented reality system that helps children born blind develop social attention skills. PeopleLens uses a he…
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SoundVizVR: Sound Indicators for Accessible Sounds in Virtual Reality for Deaf or Hard-of-Hearing Users
This paper presents SoundVizVR, a Unity plugin that visualizes sound information in virtual reality environments for Deaf or Hard-of-hearing (DHH) users. Sounds in VR provide critical spatial cues, interaction feedback, and ambient information that c…
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VRBubble: Enhancing Peripheral Awareness of Avatars for People with Visual Impairments in Social Virtual Reality
This paper introduces VRBubble, an audio-based interaction technique designed to make social virtual reality environments accessible to people with visual impairments (PVI). While social VR platforms like VRChat and Rec Room are growing rapidly as sp…
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Improving the Accessibility of Screen-Shared Presentations by Enabling Concurrent Exploration
This paper addresses a fundamental gap in remote meeting accessibility: when presenters screen-share slides during video calls, blind and low vision (BLV) screen reader users have no adequate way to independently explore slide content in real-time. W…
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Beyond Audio Description: Exploring 360° Video Accessibility with Blind and Low Vision Users Through Collaborative Creation
This paper investigates how to make 360-degree videos accessible to blind and low vision (BLV) users while preserving their immersive nature — a challenge that goes well beyond simply adding traditional audio description (AD). The researchers conduct…
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PunchPulse: A Physically Demanding Virtual Reality Boxing Game Designed with, for and by Blind and Low-Vision Players
This paper presents PunchPulse, an open-source VR boxing exergame designed through a seven-month participatory co-design process with blind and low-vision (BLV) individuals to promote sustained moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA). BLV peopl…
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From Screen Reading to "Scene Reading" in SceneVR: Touch-Based Interaction Techniques for Use in Virtual Reality by Blind and Low-Vision Users
This paper introduces "scene reading," a novel interaction paradigm that extends the familiar concept of touch-based screen reading from 2-D interfaces to 3-D virtual reality environments. The authors developed SceneVR, a system that streams the live…
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Scanning for Digital Content: How Blind and Sighted People Perceive Concurrent Speech
This paper investigates whether blind and sighted people can leverage concurrent speech — multiple audio streams playing simultaneously — to more efficiently scan and identify relevant digital content, exploiting the well-known Cocktail Party Effect.…
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SoundHapticVR: Head-Based Spatial Haptic Feedback for Accessible Sounds in Virtual Reality for Deaf and Hard of Hearing Users
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…
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Accessible Nonverbal Cues to Support Conversations in VR for Blind and Low Vision People
This paper addresses the inaccessibility of nonverbal communication for blind and low-vision (BLV) users in social virtual reality environments. Social VR platforms like VRChat, Rec Room, and Meta Horizon Worlds rely heavily on avatar-mediated nonver…