Literature Reviews

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

• Improving Calibration Time and Accuracy for Situation-Specific Models of Color Differentiation

  David R. Flatla, Carl Gutwin (2011) — The Proceedings of the 13th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS 2011)

  This paper presents ICD-2, a significantly improved situation-specific model of human color differentiation designed to make personalised color accessibility tools practical for real-world use. Color vision deficiencies (CVDs) affect people's ability…

  • color vision deficiency
  • color blindness
  • color accessibility
  • calibration
  • color differentiation
  • recoloring
  • personalization
  • visual accessibility

• Multi-View Platform: An Accessible Live Classroom Viewing Approach for Low Vision Students

  Raja S. Kushalnagar, Stephanie A. Ludie, Poorna Kushalnagar (2011) — The Proceedings of the 13th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS 2011)

  This paper presents a Multi-View Platform (MVP) that uses students' personal smartphones and tablets to provide low vision and deaf students with flexible, magnified views of classroom lecture visuals such as presentation slides and whiteboards. The …

  • low vision
  • education
  • classroom accessibility
  • mobile technology
  • magnification
  • deaf accessibility
  • mainstream technology
  • Android

• Improving Public Transit Accessibility for Blind Riders: A Train Station Navigation Assistant

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

  This short paper presents a prototype iPhone application designed to help blind people navigate inside train stations — an environment where GPS is unavailable and orientation is particularly challenging. The author's motivation comes from interviews…

  • blindness
  • indoor navigation
  • public transit
  • iPhone
  • wayfinding
  • cognitive map
  • accessibility
  • commodity hardware
  • screen reader

• The PhonicStick: A Joystick to Generate Novel Words Using Phonics

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

  This short paper introduces the PhonicStick, a novel joystick-based device that enables non-speaking children to explore letter sounds (phonics) and blend them into words. The motivation stems from a key limitation of existing Voice Output Communicat…

  • AAC
  • phonological awareness
  • literacy
  • joystick
  • cerebral palsy
  • phonics
  • assistive technology
  • children
  • voice output
  • alternative input

• Using a Computer Intervention to Support Phonological Awareness Development of Nonspeaking Adults

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

  This short paper presents a pilot study investigating whether a computer-based intervention delivered on an iPad can help adults with severe speech and physical impairments (SSPI) develop phonological awareness — the ability to identify and manipulat…

  • phonological awareness
  • literacy
  • severe speech and physical impairments
  • computer-based intervention
  • iPad
  • cerebral palsy
  • AAC
  • mainstream technology

• Leveraging Large Data Sets for User Requirements Analysis

  Maria K. Wolters, Vicki L. Hanson, Johanna D. Moore (2011) — The Proceedings of the 13th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS 2011)

  This paper demonstrates a novel methodology for using large-scale demographic surveys to inform the design of accessible technology. Rather than conducting specialized usability studies with small samples, the authors repurpose the English Longitudin…

  • inclusive design
  • aging
  • spoken dialogue systems
  • telecare
  • user requirements
  • design exclusion
  • hearing
  • dexterity
  • mobility
  • literacy
  • older adults

• Evaluating Importance of Facial Expression in American Sign Language and Pidgin Signed English Animations

  Matt Huenerfauth, Pengfei Lu, Andrew Rosenberg (2011) — Proceedings of the 13th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS 2011)

  This paper presents the first empirical evaluation of the impact of facial expressions on the understandability and perceived quality of American Sign Language (ASL) and Pidgin Signed English (PSE) computer animations. ASL animations have significant…

  • sign language
  • sign language animation
  • deaf accessibility
  • facial expression
  • American Sign Language
  • assistive technology
  • natural language processing

• Annotation-based Video Enrichment for Blind People: A Pilot Study on the Use of Earcons and Speech Synthesis

  Benoît Encelle, Magali Ollagnier-Beldame, Stéphanie Pouchot, Yannick Prié (2011) — Proceedings of the 13th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS 2011)

  This paper presents exploratory work from the ACAV (Collaborative Annotation for Video Accessibility) project, investigating how combining earcons (nonverbal audio messages) with speech synthesis can improve video accessibility for blind people. Trad…

  • video accessibility
  • blindness
  • audio description
  • earcons
  • speech technology
  • multimedia accessibility
  • sonification

• The Interplay Between Web Aesthetics and Accessibility

  Grace Mbipom, Simon Harper (2011) — Proceedings of the 13th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS 2011)

  This paper investigates whether the commonly held belief that visually attractive websites are inherently inaccessible holds true. The research was conducted in two studies. In Study 1, 30 sighted web users rated 50 homepages (drawn from Alexa top UK…

  • web accessibility
  • visual design
  • user experience
  • accessibility evaluation
  • heuristic evaluation
  • visual impairment

• On the Intelligibility of Fast Synthesized Speech for Individuals with Early-Onset Blindness

  Amanda Stent, Ann Syrdal, Taniya Mishra (2011) — Proceedings of the 13th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS 2011)

  This paper reports on a pilot experiment comparing the intelligibility of fast synthesized speech across different text-to-speech (TTS) systems for individuals with early-onset blindness (onset before age seven). People who are blind increasingly use…

  • text-to-speech
  • screen readers
  • blindness
  • speech technology
  • speech intelligibility
  • assistive technology