Literature Reviews

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

• Capti-Speak: A Speech-Enabled Web Screen Reader

  Vikas Ashok, Yevgen Borodin, Yury Puzis, I. V. Ramakrishnan (2015) — Proceedings of the 12th International Web for All Conference (W4A)

  This paper presents Capti-Speak, a speech-augmented screen reader for web browsing that allows blind users to combine natural language voice commands with traditional keyboard shortcuts. Built as an extension to the Capti Narrator screen reader, Capt…

  • screen readers
  • speech recognition
  • voice interface
  • web accessibility
  • blind users
  • natural language processing
  • assistive technology

• Automatically Generating and Improving Voice Command Interface from Operation Sequences on Smartphones

  Lihang Pan, Chun Yu, JiaHui Li, Tian Huang, Xiaojun Bi, Yuanchun Shi (2022) — Proceedings of the 2022 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems

  This paper presents AutoVCI, a system that automatically generates voice command interfaces (VCIs) for smartphone tasks from recorded touch operation sequences, enabling hands-free and eyes-free interaction without requiring programming expertise, co…

  • voice command interface
  • mobile accessibility
  • speech recognition
  • natural language understanding
  • programming by demonstration
  • smartphone automation
  • machine learning
  • GUI accessibility

• Evaluation of Real-time Captioning by Machine Recognition with Human Support

  Hironobu Takagi, Takashi Itoh, Kaoru Shinkawa (2015) — Proceedings of the 12th International Web for All Conference (W4A)

  This paper from IBM Research Tokyo investigates a hybrid approach to real-time captioning that combines Automated Speech Recognition (ASR) with human correction to make workplace meetings accessible for deaf and hard of hearing (DHH) employees. Profe…

  • real-time captioning
  • deaf and hard of hearing
  • automated speech recognition
  • workplace accessibility
  • Japanese
  • speech recognition
  • captioning

• The Effects of Automatic Speech Recognition Quality on Human Transcription Latency

  Yashesh Gaur, Walter S. Lasecki, Florian Metze, Jeffrey P. Bigham (2016) — Proceedings of the 13th International Web for All Conference (W4A)

  This paper from Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Michigan empirically investigates when automatic speech recognition (ASR) output helps or hinders human transcriptionists producing captions for deaf and hard of hearing people. Manual …

  • speech recognition
  • captioning
  • deaf and hard of hearing
  • crowdsourcing
  • human computation
  • automatic speech recognition

• WebReader: a screen reader for everyone, everywhere

  Aurelio De Rosa, Donovan Justice (2016) — Proceedings of the 13th International Web for All Conference (W4A)

  This extended abstract presents WebReader, a free and open source JavaScript library that implements a subset of screen reader features directly within web pages, requiring no software installation beyond a web browser. The project addresses two key …

  • screen readers
  • web accessibility
  • JavaScript
  • Web Speech API
  • open source
  • assistive technology
  • speech synthesis
  • speech recognition

• Vocal Programming for People with Upper-Body Motor Impairments

  Lucas Rosenblatt, Patrick Carrington, Kotaro Hara, Jeffrey P. Bigham (2018) — Proceedings of the 15th International Web for All Conference (W4A 2018)

  This paper presents VocalIDE, a prototype voice-based integrated development environment (IDE) designed to enable people with upper-body motor impairments to write and edit computer code using speech commands rather than a keyboard. Only 4% of profes…

  • speech recognition
  • motor impairment
  • cerebral palsy
  • spinal cord injury
  • programming education
  • voice interface
  • IDE
  • Wizard of Oz
  • text entry
  • workplace accessibility

• Exploration of Automatic Speech Recognition for Deaf and Hard of Hearing Students in Higher Education Classes

  Janine Butler, Brian Trager, Byron Behm (2019) — Proceedings of the 21st International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS 2019)

  This paper presents a qualitative study of how deaf and hard of hearing (DHH) students at the National Technical Institute for the Deaf (Rochester Institute of Technology) experienced automatic speech recognition (ASR) as a supplemental access servic…

  • speech recognition
  • Deaf and hard of hearing
  • captioning
  • higher education
  • real-time captions
  • CART
  • sign language interpreter
  • word error rate
  • STEM accessibility

• Automatic Generation and Evaluation of Usable and Secure Audio reCAPTCHA

  Mohit Jain, Rohun Tripathi, Ishita Bhansali, Pratyush Kumar (2019) — Proceedings of the 21st International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS 2019)

  This paper presents reCAPGen, a system that automatically generates usable and secure audio CAPTCHAs by leveraging the gap between human and machine speech recognition abilities. Visual CAPTCHAs — the dominant form of online human verification — are …

  • CAPTCHA
  • audio accessibility
  • blind
  • visual impairment
  • web accessibility
  • speech recognition
  • security
  • crowdsourcing
  • screen readers

• Handsfree for Web: A Google Chrome extension to browse the web via voice commands

  Javier Pérez (2019) — Proceedings of the 16th International Web for All Conference (W4A)

  This demonstration paper presents Handsfree for Web, a free Google Chrome browser extension that enables users to browse the web entirely through voice commands. The tool addresses a fundamental accessibility barrier: nearly all websites require manu…

  • voice control
  • speech recognition
  • motor disability
  • browser extension
  • web accessibility
  • hands-free interaction
  • Chrome extension
  • Web Speech API
  • assistive technology

• Pushpak: Voice Command-based eBook Navigator

  Shradha Holani, Akashdeep Bansal, M Balakrishnan (2019) — Proceedings of the 16th International Web for All Conference (W4A)

  This demonstration paper presents Pushpak, a voice command-based eBook navigator designed to reduce the steep learning curve associated with screen reader software. The authors identify a key accessibility barrier: effective use of screen readers lik…

  • voice control
  • screen reader
  • NVDA
  • eBook
  • natural language understanding
  • visual impairment
  • STEM accessibility
  • assistive technology
  • speech recognition
  • touchscreen accessibility