Literature Reviews

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

• Typing Slowly but Screen-Free: Exploring Navigation over Entirely Auditory Keyboards

  Reeti Mathur, Aishwarya Sheth, Parimal Vyas, Davide Bolchini (2019) — Proceedings of the 21st International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS)

  This paper introduces the concept of "keyflows" — entirely auditory keyboards that operate without a reference screen, enabling blind users to type while untethered from their mobile device. The core problem is that current accessible keyboards requi…

  • text entry
  • blindness
  • visual impairment
  • screen reader
  • auditory interface
  • screenless interaction
  • wearable technology
  • gesture-based interaction
  • mobile accessibility
  • eyes-free interaction

• Addressing the Situational Impairments Encountered by Firefighters through the Design of Alerts

  Flynn Wolf, Priyanka Soni, Ravi Kuber, Dianne Pawluk, Brian Turnage (2019) — Proceedings of the 16th International Web for All Conference (W4A)

  This paper describes a structured multi-step approach to designing multimodal alerts for firefighters who experience severe situationally-induced impairments and disabilities (SIIDs) at fire scenes — thick smoke restricting vision, loud noise from co…

  • situational impairment
  • situational disability
  • haptic feedback
  • multimodal interaction
  • participatory design
  • firefighting
  • alert design
  • situational awareness
  • wearable technology
  • tactile feedback

• Synesthesia Vision integration with Recife's Public Transport

  Aida A. Ferreira, Gilmar Brito, Lydia Nascimento da Silva, João Victor Mouzinho, Ryan Morais, Jonathan Romualdo Pereira (2019) — Proceedings of the 16th International Web for All Conference (W4A)

  This demonstration paper presents Synesthesia Vision, a two-component assistive technology system for blind people in Recife, Brazil, and its integration with the metropolitan public transport monitoring system. The system consists of sensory glasses…

  • visual impairment
  • blindness
  • public transportation
  • smart city
  • obstacle detection
  • spatial audio
  • 3D audio
  • Internet of Things
  • wearable technology
  • navigation and wayfinding
  • Brazil
  • developing nations

• Exploring feasibility of wrist gestures for non-visual interactions with wearables

  Shirin Feiz, I. V. Ramakrishnan (2019) — Proceedings of the 16th International Web for All Conference (W4A)

  This paper investigates the accessibility of wrist gestures as an input modality for people with visual impairments (PVIs) interacting with smartwatches. Smartwatches hold particular promise for PVIs: they are always available, enable one-handed use …

  • wearable technology
  • smartwatch
  • gesture-based interaction
  • visual impairment
  • blindness
  • low vision
  • one-handed interaction
  • input modality
  • non-visual interaction

• SoundWatch: Exploring Smartwatch-based Deep Learning Approaches to Support Sound Awareness for Deaf and Hard of Hearing Users

  Dhruv Jain, Hung Ngo, Pratyush Patel, Steven Goodman, Leah Findlater, Jon Froehlich (2020) — Proceedings of the 22nd International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS '20)

  This paper presents SoundWatch, a smartwatch-based sound awareness system that uses deep learning to classify environmental sounds in real time and provide visual and haptic notifications to deaf and hard of hearing (DHH) users. The research addresse…

  • deaf accessibility
  • hard of hearing
  • sound awareness
  • deep learning
  • wearable technology
  • smartwatch
  • machine learning
  • sound classification

• Chat in the Hat: A Portable Interpreter for Sign Language Users

  Larwan Berke, William Thies, Danielle Bragg (2020) — Proceedings of the 22nd International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS)

  This paper addresses a fundamental limitation of Video Remote Interpreting (VRI) for Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing (DHH) sign language users: existing smartphone-based VRI requires the DHH person to either hold the phone with one hand (reducing signing to…

  • deaf and hard of hearing
  • sign language
  • video remote interpreting
  • augmented reality
  • workplace accessibility
  • wearable technology
  • ASL

• A Mobile Cloud Collaboration Fall Detection System Based on Ensemble Learning

  Tong Wu, Yang Gu, Yiqiang Chen, Jiwei Wang, Siyu Zhang (2020) — Proceedings of the 22nd International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS)

  This paper addresses fall detection for older adults, which the WHO identifies as the second leading cause of accidental injury death worldwide. Roughly 28-35% of people over 65 experience falls each year, with the rate increasing to 32-42% for those…

  • fall detection
  • machine learning
  • wearable technology
  • aging
  • health monitoring
  • cloud computing
  • ensemble learning

• Tapsonic: One Dimensional Finger Mounted Multimodal Line Chart Reader

  Zeyuan Zhang (2020) — Proceedings of the 22nd International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS 2020)

  This short paper presents Tapsonic, a finger-mounted wearable device that enables people with visual impairments to read line charts through a combination of haptic feedback and voiceover. The key innovation is a dimensionality reduction approach: ra…

  • visual accessibility
  • data visualization
  • data accessibility
  • haptic technology
  • blindness and low vision
  • assistive technology
  • wearable technology
  • multimodal interaction

• Keep Your Distance: A Playful Haptic Navigation Wearable for Individuals with Deafblindness

  James Gay, Moritz Umfahrer, Arthur Theil, Lea Buchweitz, Eva Lindell, Li Guo, Nils-Krister Persson, Oliver Korn (2020) — Proceedings of the 22nd International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS 2020)

  This demonstration paper presents a haptic wearable vest designed to support independent navigation for people with deafblindness — a dual sensory impairment where the combination of sight and hearing loss makes it difficult for one sense to compensa…

  • deafblindness
  • haptic technology
  • vibrotactile feedback
  • navigation
  • wearable technology
  • sensory substitution
  • assistive technology
  • wayfinding
  • e-textiles

• Privacy Considerations of the Visually Impaired with Camera Based Assistive Technologies: Misrepresentation, Impropriety, and Fairness

  Taslima Akter, Tousif Ahmed, Apu Kapadia, Swami Manohar Swaminathan (2020) — Proceedings of the 22nd International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS 2020)

  This paper investigates the privacy concerns of both visually impaired people (PVIs) and sighted bystanders regarding camera-based assistive technologies like smart glasses (Orcam, Aira, eSight) that can identify people and provide demographic and be…

  • visual accessibility
  • blindness and low vision
  • privacy
  • AI bias
  • AI fairness
  • computer vision
  • wearable technology
  • ethics
  • social accessibility