Literature Reviews

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

• Note-Taker 3.0: An Assistive Technology Enabling Students Who Are Legally Blind to Take Notes in Class

  David S. Hayden, Michael Astrauskas, Qian Yan, Liqing Zhou, John A. Black (2011) — The Proceedings of the 13th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS)

  This demonstration paper presents the results of a three-year iterative development of Note-Taker, a portable hardware/software assistive device that enables students with low vision to independently take handwritten or typed notes during classroom l…

  • low vision
  • blindness and low vision
  • educational technology
  • assistive technology
  • STEM accessibility
  • inclusive education
  • screen magnification

• Situation-based Indoor Wayfinding System for the Visually Impaired

  Eunjeong Ko, Jin Sun Ju, Eun Yi Kim (2011) — The Proceedings of the 13th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS)

  This paper presents an indoor wayfinding system for visually impaired people that uses situation-aware color codes affixed to building walls to guide users to destinations in unfamiliar environments. The key innovation is a situation-based approach: …

  • blindness and low vision
  • indoor navigation
  • wayfinding
  • computer vision
  • assistive technology
  • mobile accessibility
  • navigation

• TypeInBraille: A Braille-Based Typing Application for Touchscreen Devices

  Sergio Mascetti, Cristian Bernareggi, Matteo Belotti (2011) — The Proceedings of the 13th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS)

  This demonstration paper presents TypeInBraille, a novel text entry application for touchscreen smartphones that allows blind users to type using Braille code rather than the standard on-screen QWERTY keyboard. While screen readers like VoiceOver hav…

  • blindness and low vision
  • braille
  • text entry
  • touchscreen accessibility
  • mobile accessibility
  • assistive technology
  • input methods

• Analyzing Visual Questions from Visually Impaired Users

  Erin L. Brady (2011) — The Proceedings of the 13th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS)

  This doctoral consortium paper presents an analysis of the types of visual questions that visually impaired users ask through VizWiz, a mobile phone application that provides near-realtime answers to visual questions. VizWiz allows users to take a ph…

  • blindness and low vision
  • crowdsourcing
  • computer vision
  • mobile accessibility
  • visual question answering
  • object recognition
  • assistive technology

• Providing Haptic Feedback Using the Kinect

  Brandon T. Shrewsbury (2011) — The Proceedings of the 13th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS)

  This poster paper presents a system that combines the Microsoft Kinect depth camera with a custom haptic glove to provide spatial awareness to people who are blind or visually impaired. The research addresses a gap in existing mobility aids: while ca…

  • haptic technology
  • sensory substitution
  • blindness and low vision
  • assistive technology
  • depth camera
  • navigation
  • wearable technology

• StopFinder: Improving the Experience of Blind Public Transit Riders with Crowdsourcing

  Sanjana Prasain (2011) — The Proceedings of the 13th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS)

  This doctoral consortium paper presents StopFinder, a mobile system that uses crowdsourcing to collect and provide information about non-visual landmarks around bus stops for blind public transit riders. The research addresses a fundamental challenge…

  • blindness and low vision
  • crowdsourcing
  • navigation
  • public transportation
  • mobile accessibility
  • wayfinding
  • independent living

• Tactile Graphics with a Voice Demonstration

  Catherine M. Baker, Lauren R. Milne, Jeffrey Scofield, Cynthia L. Bennett, Richard E. Ladner (2014) — Proceedings of the 16th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers & Accessibility (ASSETS '14)

  This demonstration paper presents Tactile Graphics with a Voice (TGV), a system that makes labels on tactile graphics accessible to blind and low vision users who do not read Braille. STEM textbooks are filled with images — from parabolas to cell dia…

  • tactile graphics
  • blindness and low vision
  • QR codes
  • STEM accessibility
  • braille
  • non-visual feedback
  • education
  • assistive technology

• AIGuide: An Augmented Reality Hand Guidance Application for People with Visual Impairments

  Nelson Daniel Troncoso Aldas, Sooyeon Lee, Chonghan Lee, Mary Beth Rosson, John M. Carroll, Vijaykrishnan Narayanan (2020) — Proceedings of the 22nd International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS 2020)

  This paper presents AIGuide, a self-contained offline iOS smartphone application that uses augmented reality (ARKit) to help people with visual impairments locate, navigate to, and pick up objects in their surroundings. Unlike existing object detecti…

  • visual accessibility
  • augmented reality
  • blindness and low vision
  • mobile accessibility
  • computer vision
  • assistive technology
  • multimodal interaction
  • independent living

• Tapsonic: One Dimensional Finger Mounted Multimodal Line Chart Reader

  Zeyuan Zhang (2020) — Proceedings of the 22nd International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS 2020)

  This short paper presents Tapsonic, a finger-mounted wearable device that enables people with visual impairments to read line charts through a combination of haptic feedback and voiceover. The key innovation is a dimensionality reduction approach: ra…

  • visual accessibility
  • data visualization
  • data accessibility
  • haptic technology
  • blindness and low vision
  • assistive technology
  • wearable technology
  • multimodal interaction

• Behaviors, Problems and Strategies of Visually Impaired Persons During Meal Preparation in the Indian Context: Challenges and Opportunities for Design

  Avyay Ravi Kashyap (2020) — Proceedings of the 22nd International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS 2020)

  This short paper investigates how visually impaired people in India prepare meals, focusing specifically on cooking techniques that involve heat application — an area largely neglected in accessibility research. While preparatory tasks (cutting, peel…

  • visual accessibility
  • blindness and low vision
  • independent living
  • cooking accessibility
  • daily living
  • Global South accessibility
  • assistive technology
  • safety