Literature Reviews

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

• Designing an Adaptive Web Navigation Interface for Users with Variable Pointing Performance

  Aqueasha Martin-Hammond, Foad Hamidi, Tejas Bhalerao, Christian Ortega, Abdullah Ali, Catherine Hornback, Casey Means, Amy Hurst (2018) — Proceedings of the 15th International Web for All Conference (W4A)

  This paper investigates how to design adaptive web navigation interfaces for people who experience variable pointing ability — difficulty using a mouse to click targets on screen that fluctuates over time due to conditions like early-stage Parkinson'…

  • adaptive user interface
  • motor impairment
  • pointing
  • assistive technology
  • web navigation
  • older adults
  • Parkinson's disease
  • user study
  • personalization
  • browser extension
  • bubble cursor
  • mixed-initiative design
  • user preferences
  • transparency
  • trust

• Detecting Autism Based on Eye-Tracking Data from Web Searching Tasks

  Victoria Yaneva, Le An Ha, Sukru Eraslan, Yeliz Yesilada, Ruslan Mitkov (2018) — Proceedings of the 15th International Web for All Conference (W4A)

  This paper investigates whether eye-tracking data collected during everyday web tasks can be used to distinguish between people with and without autism, potentially enabling a low-cost, accessible screening approach. The study collected gaze data fro…

  • autism
  • eye tracking
  • machine learning
  • web accessibility
  • cognitive accessibility
  • screening
  • diagnostic classification
  • visual attention
  • user study
  • gaze data
  • web searching
  • open data
  • neurodivergence

• Gender and Help Seeking by Older Adults When Learning New Technologies

  Rachel L. Franz, Leah Findlater, Barbara Barbosa Neves, Jacob O. Wobbrock (2019) — Proceedings of the 21st International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS)

  This paper investigates whether the gender stereotype that men are more reluctant to ask for help applies in the context of older adults learning new technologies. The study was motivated by the observation that if older men avoid asking for help wit…

  • older adults
  • aging
  • gender
  • help seeking
  • technology self-efficacy
  • digital literacy
  • technology adoption
  • user study

• Evaluating the Benefit of Highlighting Key Words in Captions for People who are Deaf or Hard of Hearing

  Sushant Kafle, Peter Yeung, Matt Huenerfauth (2019) — Proceedings of the 21st International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS)

  This paper investigates whether visually highlighting important words in video captions benefits Deaf and Hard of Hearing (DHH) users, through formative studies and a larger evaluation study. DHH users face a unique visual-attention challenge when wa…

  • Deaf and hard of hearing
  • captioning
  • text highlighting
  • educational accessibility
  • video accessibility
  • reading comprehension
  • cognitive load
  • user study
  • visual attention
  • natural language processing

• See-Thru: Towards Minimally Obstructive Eye-Controlled Wheelchair Interfaces

  Corten Clemente Singer, Björn Hartmann (2019) — Proceedings of the 21st International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS)

  This paper presents See-Thru, an eye-tracking interface for controlling power wheelchairs that replaces the conventional obstructive computer screen with a transparent wire-frame device containing spatially arranged LEDs. The fundamental problem with…

  • eye tracking
  • eye-gaze control
  • power wheelchair
  • motor disability
  • assistive technology
  • field of view
  • navigation
  • user interface design
  • user study

• An Independent and Interactive Museum Experience for Blind People

  Saki Asakawa, João Guerreiro, Daisuke Sato, Hironobu Takagi, Dragan Ahmetovic, Desi Gonzalez, Kris M. Kitani, Chieko Asakawa (2019) — Proceedings of the 16th International Web for All Conference (W4A)

  This paper presents a prototype system for supporting independent, interactive museum visits by blind people, deployed and evaluated at The Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh. The system combines indoor navigation with context-aware art appreciation th…

  • museum accessibility
  • blindness
  • indoor navigation
  • BLE beacon
  • audio description
  • art appreciation
  • wayfinding
  • proxemic interaction
  • context-awareness
  • user study

• Adults with High-functioning Autism Process Web Pages With Similar Accuracy but Higher Cognitive Effort Compared to Controls

  Victoria Yaneva, Le An Ha, Sukru Eraslan, Yeliz Yesilada (2019) — Proceedings of the 16th International Web for All Conference (W4A)

  This paper investigates the accuracy and efficiency with which adults with high-functioning autism process web pages compared to neurotypical controls, using eye-tracking to reveal hidden cognitive effort differences. The study addresses a critical g…

  • autism spectrum disorder
  • eye tracking
  • cognitive accessibility
  • web accessibility
  • neurodivergence
  • cognitive load
  • visual attention
  • inclusive design
  • information searching
  • user study

• AudioFunctions.web: Multimodal Exploration of Mathematical Function Graphs

  Dragan Ahmetovic, Cristian Bernareggi, João Guerreiro, Sergio Mascetti, Anna Capietto (2019) — Proceedings of the 16th International Web for All Conference (W4A)

  This full research paper presents AudioFunctions.web, a web application that enables blind and visually impaired people to explore mathematical function graphs through a combination of sonification, earcons, and speech synthesis. The system is the pl…

  • sonification
  • mathematics accessibility
  • visual impairment
  • blindness
  • STEM accessibility
  • multimodal interaction
  • data visualization
  • assistive technology
  • web accessibility
  • user study
  • touchscreen
  • keyboard accessibility

• Understanding Screen Readers' Plugins

  Farhani Momotaz, Md Touhidul Islam, Md Ehtesham-Ul-Haque, Syed Masum Billah (2021) — Proceedings of the 23rd International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS)

  This paper presents the first empirical study focused specifically on understanding the ecosystem of screen reader plugins — small pieces of code that extend screen reader functionality. The researchers conducted semi-structured interviews with 14 bl…

  • screen readers
  • plugins
  • blind users
  • assistive technology
  • NVDA
  • JAWS
  • extensibility
  • user study
  • accessibility tools

• Uncovering Visually Impaired Gamers' Preferences for Spatial Awareness Tools Within Video Games

  Vishnu Nair, Shao-en Ma, Ricardo E. Gonzalez Penuela, Yicheng He, Karen Lin, Mason Hayes, Hannah Huddleston, Matthew Donnelly, Brian A. Smith (2022) — Proceedings of the 24th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS '22)

  This paper investigates how visually impaired players (VIPs) gain spatial awareness within 3D video games by comparing four leading spatial awareness tool (SAT) approaches. The researchers built Dungeon Escape, a 3D third-person adventure game using …

  • game accessibility
  • visual impairment
  • blindness
  • spatial awareness
  • audio navigation
  • 3D audio
  • sonification
  • echolocation
  • tactile map
  • user study