Literature Reviews
Reviewed research papers, articles, and publications relevant to digital accessibility.
82 results found tagged virtual reality.
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How Accessible are Virtual Reality Freehand Gestures? Understanding Barriers for Users with Upper Limb Motor Impairments
This paper provides the first empirical examination of how accessible default freehand gesture implementations in virtual reality are for people with upper limb motor impairments. The researchers recruited 8 adults with conditions including lupus, rh…
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From Screen Reading to "Scene Reading" in SceneVR: Touch-Based Interaction Techniques for Use in Virtual Reality by Blind and Low-Vision Users
This paper introduces "scene reading," a novel interaction paradigm that extends the familiar concept of touch-based screen reading from 2-D interfaces to 3-D virtual reality environments. The authors developed SceneVR, a system that streams the live…
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Understanding Accessibility for Physically Disabled Users in VR: Interplay of Physical, Digital, and Experiential Layers
This paper presents a qualitative study with 16 physically disabled participants exploring how they engage with Virtual Reality across three interconnected layers: physical (hardware and interaction paradigms), digital (avatars and virtual world desi…
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Designing for Attention: Evaluating an Affordable Immersive VR Platform for Neurodiverse Children
This paper presents VISTA (Visual Immersive Storytelling for Therapeutic Attention), a low-cost Wearable Immersive Virtual Reality (WIVR) platform designed to support attention-focused therapeutic interventions for neurodiverse children. The system u…
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Designing Through Lived Experience: Reflections on Control, Embodiment, and Social Bias in Accessibility Research
This paper presents an analytic autoethnography of three accessibility research projects led by the first author, Atieh Taheri, a disabled researcher with Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA) who has used a wheelchair her entire life. Each project emerged f…
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"I Try to Represent Myself as I Am": Self-Presentation Preferences of People with Invisible Disabilities through Embodied Social VR Avatars
This paper investigates how people with invisible disabilities want to represent their disability identity through avatars in social virtual reality environments. While prior research has explored avatar-based disability disclosure for blind and d/De…
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Is it Part of Me? Exploring Experiences of Inclusive Avatar Use For Visible and Invisible Disabilities in Social VR
This paper investigates the lived experiences of people with disabilities (PWD) using inclusive avatars — avatars featuring disability signifiers — in the social VR platform VRChat. While prior research has documented accessibility barriers and haras…
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SoundHapticVR: Head-Based Spatial Haptic Feedback for Accessible Sounds in Virtual Reality for Deaf and Hard of Hearing Users
This paper presents SoundHapticVR, a head-based haptic feedback system that converts spatial audio cues in virtual reality into vibrotactile feedback for Deaf and Hard of Hearing (DHH) users. VR environments rely heavily on spatial audio to convey cr…
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SoundModVR: Sound Modifications in Virtual Reality to Support People who are Deaf and Hard of Hearing
This paper challenges the prevailing approach to VR sound accessibility for deaf and hard-of-hearing (DHH) people, which has focused almost exclusively on substituting audio with visual or haptic alternatives (captions, flashing indicators, vibration…
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Accessible Nonverbal Cues to Support Conversations in VR for Blind and Low Vision People
This paper addresses the inaccessibility of nonverbal communication for blind and low-vision (BLV) users in social virtual reality environments. Social VR platforms like VRChat, Rec Room, and Meta Horizon Worlds rely heavily on avatar-mediated nonver…