Literature Reviews

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

• Aided Nonverbal Communication through Physical Expressive Objects

  Stephanie Valencia, Mark Steidl, Michael Rivera, Cynthia Bennett, Jeffrey Bigham, Henny Admoni (2021) — Proceedings of the 23rd International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS)

  This paper presents an in-depth case study of co-designing a physical expressive "sidekick" device to support nonverbal communication for an augmented communicator (AC) named Mark, who has cerebral palsy and uses a head-switch-operated AAC device. Wh…

  • augmentative and alternative communication
  • nonverbal communication
  • co-design
  • participatory design
  • cerebral palsy
  • physical disability
  • robotics
  • tangible interaction
  • assistive technology

• State of the Art in AAC: A Systematic Review and Taxonomy

  Humphrey Curtis, Timothy Neate, Carlota Vazquez Gonzalez (2022) — Proceedings of the 24th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS '22)

  This paper presents the first systematic review and taxonomy of high-tech augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) devices and interventions within the ACM literature. The authors analyzed 562 articles from the ACM Digital Library and SCOPUS …

  • augmentative and alternative communication
  • AAC
  • systematic review
  • taxonomy
  • complex communication needs
  • speech generating devices
  • assistive technology
  • participatory design

• AAC with Automated Vocabulary from Photographs: Insights from School and Speech-Language Therapy Settings

  Mauricio Fontana de Vargas, Jiamin Dai, Karyn Moffatt (2022) — Proceedings of the 24th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS '22)

  This paper presents Click AAC, a prototype mobile application that automatically generates situation-specific communication boards from photographs using computer vision and natural language processing. Traditional symbol-based AAC devices organize v…

  • augmentative and alternative communication
  • AAC
  • autism
  • computer vision
  • just-in-time vocabulary
  • visual scene display
  • aided language stimulation
  • complex communication needs
  • artificial intelligence
  • symbol-based communication

• A Usability Study of Nomon: A Flexible Interface for Single-Switch Users

  Nicholas Bonaker, Emli-Mari Nel, Keith Vertanen, Tamara Broderick (2023) — Proceedings of the 25th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS 2023)

  This paper presents the first usability study of Nomon — an alternative single-switch interface — with actual motor-impaired users, comparing it against the widely used row-column scanning (RCS) method. Single-switch interfaces are essential communic…

  • single switch
  • augmentative and alternative communication
  • motor impairment
  • text entry
  • scanning
  • assistive technology
  • input methods

• Watch Your Language: Using Smartwatches to Support Communication

  Humphrey Curtis, Timothy Neate (2023) — ASSETS '23: Proceedings of the 25th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility

  This paper presents the first participatory design and evaluation of AAC smartwatch applications co-designed directly with people who have complex communication needs (CCNs), specifically people living with aphasia — an acquired language impairment m…

  • augmentative and alternative communication
  • AAC
  • smartwatch
  • aphasia
  • wearable technology
  • participatory design
  • total communication
  • non-verbal communication

• Looking Past Screens: Exploring Mixed Reality and Discreet AAC Devices

  Humphrey Curtis, Adam D G Jenkins, Seray B Ibrahim, Timothy Neate (2024) — Proceedings of the 26th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS 2024)

  This paper challenges the dominance of tablet-based augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) devices by co-designing mixed reality (MR) and discreet assistive technologies with people living with aphasia following stroke. Current AAC devices …

  • augmentative and alternative communication
  • mixed reality
  • aphasia
  • co-design
  • wearable technology
  • assistive technology
  • pico projection

• "An Old Bastard in Bright Orange Satin!": Zuzenna's Aphasia Diary: And Lessons Learned from DIY Augmentative and Alternative Communication

  Humphrey Curtis, Filip Bircanin, Timothy Neate (2025) — ASSETS 2025: 27th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility

  This paper presents a four-month qualitative study of Zuzenna, a stroke survivor living with aphasia in North London, and her self-made DIY communication diary that serves as an augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) device. Against a backd…

  • aphasia
  • augmentative and alternative communication
  • DIY assistive technology
  • single-subject study
  • stroke recovery
  • self-expression
  • empowerment
  • qualitative research

• Life as an International Computer Science PhD Student with Cerebral Palsy

  Tianchi Mo, Humphrey Curtis, Timothy Neate (2025) — ASSETS 2025: 27th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility

  This paper presents a longitudinal autoethnographic study of Tianchi, an international PhD student with cerebral palsy (CP) navigating the final stages of his doctoral journey in Computer Science at Stony Brook University. Born in China in 1990, Tian…

  • cerebral palsy
  • autoethnography
  • assistive technology
  • augmentative and alternative communication
  • graduate education
  • lived experience
  • motor impairment
  • communication barriers

• Helping or Homogenizing? GenAI as a Design Partner to Pre-Service SLPs for Just-in-Time Programming of AAC

  Cynthia Zastudil, Christine Holyfield, Christine Kapp, Kate Hamilton, Kriti Baru, Liam Newsam, June A. Smith, Stephen MacNeil (2025) — ASSETS 2025: 27th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility

  This paper investigates the integration of generative AI into augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) devices, specifically examining how AI-suggested hotspots affect the creation of visual scene displays (VSDs). VSDs are image-based communi…

  • augmentative and alternative communication
  • AAC
  • visual scene displays
  • generative AI
  • autism
  • speech-language pathology
  • just-in-time programming
  • AI homogenization
  • assistive technology design

• Encouraging Speech and Vocalization in Children with Autistic Spectrum Disorder

  Joshua Hailpern (2007) — SIGACCESS Accessibility and Computing

  This paper reviews existing HCI research on autism spectrum disorder and proposes a new direction: using technology to encourage speech and vocalization in children with ASD who have not acquired spoken language. The author identifies a gap in the fi…

  • autism spectrum disorder
  • speech disorder
  • vocalization
  • visual feedback
  • auditory feedback
  • augmentative and alternative communication
  • applied behavior analysis
  • social robot