Literature Reviews

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

• Intelligent Assistive Communication and the Web as a Social Medium

  Karl Wiegand (2014) — Proceedings of the 11th Web for All Conference (W4A)

  This short paper presents doctoral research on applying natural language processing (NLP) and machine learning to improve augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) systems, with a particular focus on enabling web-based social interaction for p…

  • augmentative and alternative communication
  • AAC
  • natural language processing
  • machine learning
  • social media accessibility
  • brain-computer interface
  • speech impairment
  • icon-based communication

• A Web Based Multi-Linguists Symbol-to-Text AAC Application

  Chaohai Ding, Nawar Halabi, Lama Al-Zaben, Yunjia Li, E. A. Draffan, Mike Wald (2015) — Proceedings of the 12th International Web for All Conference (W4A)

  This paper presents Symbol Dragoman, a web-based augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) application that enables users who have no spoken language to communicate in both Arabic and English using pictographic symbols. The core problem addres…

  • AAC
  • augmentative and alternative communication
  • symbol communication
  • multilingual accessibility
  • Arabic
  • natural language generation
  • pictograms
  • web accessibility
  • text-to-speech

• Working Together: Technology as the Foundation for Better Employment Outcomes for People with Disability

  Alastair McEwin (2017) — Proceedings of the 14th International Web for All Conference (W4A)

  Written by Australia's Disability Discrimination Commissioner at the Australian Human Rights Commission, this keynote paper draws on the findings of the 2016 "Willing to Work" national inquiry into employment discrimination against older Australians …

  • disability employment
  • disability rights
  • workplace accessibility
  • digital inclusion
  • disability discrimination
  • policy
  • Australia
  • human rights
  • screen readers
  • remote work
  • assistive technology
  • organizational accessibility
  • AAC
  • reasonable accommodation

• Automatic Natural Language Generation Applied to Alternative and Augmentative Communication for Online Video Content Services using SimpleNLG for Spanish

  Silvia García-Méndez, Milagros Fernández-Gavilanes, Enrique Costa-Montenegro, Jonathan Juncal-Martínez, Francisco Javier González-Castaño (2018) — Proceedings of the 15th International Web for All Conference (W4A 2018)

  This short paper presents the development of a Spanish version of SimpleNLG — a natural language generation (NLG) library — specifically enhanced for Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) applications. The work addresses a gap at the inter…

  • AAC
  • natural language processing
  • pictograms
  • Spanish
  • natural language generation
  • autism
  • communication accessibility
  • video accessibility
  • speech and language

• Contextual Adaptive Communication Aid: Supporting Individuals with Neurological Disease in Communication

  Lula Albar (2020) — Proceedings of the 17th International Web for All Conference (W4A)

  This doctoral consortium paper proposes a context-aware Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) system designed to support people with communication impairments (CI) caused by neurological disease or acquired brain injury, such as aphasia an…

  • AAC
  • communication impairment
  • aphasia
  • context-aware computing
  • co-design
  • neurological disease
  • speech therapy

• Voice Creator: Giving Customized Voice to the Voiceless for Online Communication

  Hyeon Jeong Byeon (2021) — Proceedings of the 23rd International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS)

  This extended abstract presents Voice Creator, a web-based prototype that allows people with speech or hearing impairments to create customized synthetic voices for online communication. The work is motivated by research showing that voice-based comm…

  • speech synthesis
  • voice customization
  • speech impairment
  • hearing impairment
  • computer-mediated communication
  • text-to-speech
  • AAC

• 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

• Designing a Customizable Picture-Based Augmented Reality Application For Therapists and Educational Professionals Working in Autistic Contexts

  Tooba Ahsen, Christina Yu, Amanda O'Brien, Ralf W. Schlosser, Howard C. Shane, Dylan Oesch-Emmel, Eileen T. Crehan, Fahad Dogar (2022) — Proceedings of the 24th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS '22)

  This paper presents CustomAR, a mobile augmented reality application designed to allow therapists and educational professionals to create and customize picture-based AR experiences for use in autism-related learning activities. The work addresses a c…

  • augmented reality
  • autism
  • visual supports
  • customization
  • therapy
  • education
  • participatory design
  • AAC

• 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

• 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