Literature Reviews

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

• ChattyBooks and ChattyBook Service

  Masakazu Suzuki, Katsuhito Yamaguchi (2017) — Proceedings of the 14th International Web for All Conference (W4A)

  This demonstration paper presents ChattyBooks, a Windows application that converts STEM content in DAISY/accessible EPUB3 format into audio-embedded HTML5 with JavaScript, enabling playback in any web browser on any platform without requiring special…

  • STEM accessibility
  • DAISY
  • EPUB
  • MathML
  • mathematics accessibility
  • visual impairment
  • blindness
  • dyslexia
  • text-to-speech
  • OCR
  • accessible publishing
  • e-textbooks
  • HTML5
  • JavaScript
  • PDF accessibility
  • SVG
  • Japan
  • education accessibility

• Math Melodies: Supporting Visually Impaired Primary School Students in Learning Math

  Dragan Ahmetovic, Valeria Alampi, Cristian Bernareggi, Andrea Gerino, Sergio Mascetti (2017) — Proceedings of the 14th International Web for All Conference (W4A)

  This demonstration paper presents Math Melodies, a free iPad application designed to teach mathematics to primary school children who are blind or visually impaired, while simultaneously engaging sighted peers. Mathematics education poses particular …

  • visual impairment
  • blindness
  • education accessibility
  • mathematics accessibility
  • children
  • iPad
  • touchscreen accessibility
  • audio icons
  • multimodal interaction
  • inclusive design
  • screen reader
  • assistive technology
  • serious games
  • participatory design
  • text-to-speech

• Web-ALAP: A Web-based LaTeX Editor for Blind Individuals

  Safa Arooj, Shaban Zulfiqar, Muhammad Qasim Hunain, Suleman Shahid, Asim Karim (2020) — Proceedings of the 22nd International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS '20)

  This paper presents Web-ALAP (Web-Accessible LaTeX-based Authoring and Presentation), an open-source, web-based LaTeX editor designed specifically for blind and visually impaired users. The system addresses a critical gap in STEM accessibility: while…

  • blindness
  • STEM accessibility
  • mathematics accessibility
  • screen readers
  • web accessibility
  • text-to-speech
  • education accessibility

• 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

• The Efficacy of Collaborative Authoring of Video Scene Descriptions

  Rosiana Natalie, Jolene Loh, Huei Suen Tan, Joshua Tseng, Ian Luke Yi-Ren Chan, Ebrima H Jarjue, Hernisa Kacorri, Kotaro Hara (2021) — ASSETS '21: The 23rd International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility

  The vast majority of online video content remains inaccessible to people with visual impairments because it lacks audio descriptions — verbal commentaries that depict visual information in scenes. Professional audio description services cost US$12 to…

  • audio description
  • video accessibility
  • visual impairment
  • crowdsourcing
  • collaborative authoring
  • scene description
  • text-to-speech
  • mixed-ability collaboration

• Auditory feedback to compensate audible instructions to support people with visual impairment

  Gabriele Galimberti (2021) — ASSETS '21: The 23rd International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility

  This doctoral consortium extended abstract addresses a practical challenge faced by people with visual impairments who rely on auditory feedback from mobile devices: background noise in real-world mobility contexts can mask device audio output, degra…

  • visual impairment
  • auditory feedback
  • sonification
  • mobile accessibility
  • navigation
  • noise compensation
  • text-to-speech

• Math-to-Speech Effectiveness and Appreciation for People with Developmental Learning Disorders

  Chiara Magosso, Dragan Ahmetovic, Tiziana Armano, Cristian Bernareggi, Sandro Coriasco, Adriano Sofia, Luisa Testa, Anna Capietto (2022) — Proceedings of the 19th International Web for All Conference (W4A 2022)

  This short paper presents a user study with 19 Italian university students who have Developmental Learning Disorders (DLD), examining whether text-to-speech (TTS) access to mathematical formulae improves their ability to memorize math syntax and thei…

  • developmental learning disorders
  • text-to-speech
  • mathematics accessibility
  • dyscalculia
  • dyslexia
  • STEM accessibility
  • PDF accessibility

• Beyond Sight: Empowering Visually Impaired Users with Audible Graphs

  Wajdi Aljedaani, Uday Kiran Chimpiri, Durgasantosh Gaddam, Vaseem Ahammed Shaik, Yaswitha Karasala, Marcelo M. Eler (2024) — Proceedings of the 21st International Web for All Conference (W4A)

  This technical note presents a tool designed to make data visualizations accessible to people with visual impairments by converting them into audible and textual representations. The tool addresses a significant gap: while data visualization is centr…

  • data visualization
  • visual impairments
  • sonification
  • screen readers
  • optical character recognition
  • deep learning
  • assistive technology
  • text-to-speech