Literature Reviews

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

• Crowdsourcing the Installation and Maintenance of Indoor Localization Infrastructure to Support Blind Navigation

  Cole Gleason, Dragan Ahmetovic, Saiph Savage, Carlos Toxtli, Carl Posthuma, Chieko Asakawa, Kris M. Kitani, Jeffrey P. Bigham (2018) — Proceedings of the ACM on Interactive, Mobile, Wearable and Ubiquitous Technologies (IMWUT)

  This paper introduces LuzDeploy, a physical crowdsourcing system that coordinates non-expert volunteers to install and maintain Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) beacon infrastructure for indoor navigation systems used by blind people. The central problem i…

  • indoor navigation
  • crowdsourcing
  • Bluetooth beacons
  • blind users
  • wayfinding
  • infrastructure maintenance
  • physical crowdsourcing

• Real Time Object Scanning Using a Mobile Phone and Cloud-based Visual Search Engine

  Yu Zhong, Pierre J. Garrigues, Jeffrey P. Bigham (2013) — Proceedings of the 15th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS 2013)

  This paper presents Scan Search, an iPhone application that enables blind users to identify everyday objects in real time by continuously scanning with their phone camera rather than taking individual photos. The core challenge addressed is that blin…

  • visual accessibility
  • object recognition
  • blind users
  • mobile accessibility
  • computer vision
  • assistive technology

• RegionSpeak: Quick Comprehensive Spatial Descriptions of Complex Images for Blind Users

  Yu Zhong, Walter S. Lasecki, Erin Brady, Jeffrey P. Bigham (2015) — Proceedings of the 33rd Annual ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI 2015)

  This paper introduces RegionSpeak, a mobile application that helps blind users get comprehensive spatial descriptions of complex visual scenes by combining image stitching with parallelized crowdsourced labeling. The authors identify a gap in existin…

  • visual accessibility
  • crowdsourcing
  • image description
  • spatial awareness
  • blind users
  • touchscreen accessibility
  • assistive technology

• Towards A Universally Usable Human Interaction Proof: Evaluation of Task Completion Strategies

  Graig Sauer, Jonathan Lazar, Harry Hochheiser, Jinjuan Feng (2010) — ACM Transactions on Accessible Computing

  This paper addresses a critical accessibility barrier: CAPTCHAs and human-interaction proofs (HIPs) that effectively lock people with visual impairments out of web services. Prior research showed that blind users could only solve audio CAPTCHAs about…

  • CAPTCHA
  • blind users
  • screen readers
  • universal usability
  • web security
  • authentication

• Exploratory Analysis of Collaborative Web Accessibility Improvement

  Daisuke Sato, Hironobu Takagi, Masatomo Kobayashi, Shinya Kawanaka, Chieko Asakawa (2010) — ACM Transactions on Accessible Computing

  This paper presents a detailed analysis of the Social Accessibility Project, an experimental crowdsourced service from IBM Research-Tokyo that enables volunteers to fix web accessibility problems without requiring site owners to modify their pages. L…

  • crowdsourcing
  • web accessibility
  • social computing
  • metadata
  • screen readers
  • alternative text
  • collaborative accessibility
  • blind users
  • transcoding

• Universal Design of Auditory Graphs: A Comparison of Sonification Mappings for Visually Impaired and Sighted Listeners

  Bruce N. Walker, Lisa M. Mauney (2010) — ACM Transactions on Accessible Computing

  This study investigates whether auditory graphs—using sound to represent data for people who cannot see visual graphs—can be designed universally for both sighted and visually impaired users, or whether different sonification mappings are needed for …

  • sonification
  • auditory display
  • data visualization
  • blind users
  • visual impairment
  • universal design
  • psychophysics

• Evaluation of Haptic HTML Mappings Derived from a Novel Methodology

  Ravi Kuber, Wai Yu, Sile O'Modhrain (2011) — ACM Transactions on Accessible Computing

  This paper presents a comprehensive evaluation of haptic HTML mappings designed to help blind users navigate web pages using a Logitech Wingman force-feedback mouse. The research builds on a novel five-step participatory design methodology that activ…

  • haptic feedback
  • force-feedback
  • blind users
  • web accessibility
  • assistive technology
  • participatory design
  • spatial awareness

• Tactile Working Memory Capacity of Users Who Are Blind in an Electronic Travel Aid Application with a Vibration Belt

  Jan B. F. van Erp, Katja I. Paul, Tina Mioch (2020) — ACM Transactions on Accessible Computing

  This paper investigates the tactile working memory capacity of users who are blind when using a vibrotactile belt for electronic travel aid (ETA) applications. ETAs that display obstacle information through vibration belts require users to integrate …

  • electronic travel aids
  • vibrotactile feedback
  • working memory
  • tactile displays
  • navigation
  • blind users
  • wearable technology
  • cognitive load

• Reviewing Speech Input with Audio: Differences between Blind and Sighted Users

  Jonggi Hong, Christine Vaing, Hernisa Kacorri, Leah Findlater (2020) — ACM Transactions on Accessible Computing

  This paper investigates how blind users identify automatic speech recognition (ASR) errors when reviewing dictated text through audio only—a critical yet understudied aspect of speech-based text entry. While speech input is a primary interaction meth…

  • speech recognition
  • ASR errors
  • screen readers
  • text entry
  • blind users
  • synthesized speech
  • dictation
  • audio interface

• Video Conferencing Tools: Comparative Study of the Experiences of Screen Reader Users and the Development of More Inclusive Design Guidelines

  Barbara Leporini, Marina Buzzi, Marion Hersh (2023) — ACM Transactions on Accessible Computing

  This comprehensive study investigates the accessibility and usability of three major video conferencing platforms—Zoom, Google Meet, and Microsoft Teams—for blind and visually impaired people using screen readers. Conducted during the COVID-19 pandem…

  • video conferencing
  • screen readers
  • blind users
  • Zoom
  • Microsoft Teams
  • Google Meet
  • remote work
  • COVID-19
  • usability