Literature Reviews

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

• Machine Generation of Audio Description for Blind and Visually Impaired People

  Virgínia P. Campos, Tiago M. U. de Araújo, Guido L. de Souza Filho, Luiz M. G. Gonçalves (2023) — ACM Transactions on Accessible Computing

  This paper presents an extension to CineAD, a system for automatically generating audio descriptions (AD) for videos. The authors address a critical accessibility gap: most videos, films, and cultural programming lack audio descriptions, leaving blin…

  • audio description
  • blind and visually impaired
  • computer vision
  • machine learning
  • video accessibility
  • text-to-speech
  • object detection
  • automation

• Making and Accessibility: A Systematic Literature Review on the Multilayered Dimensions of Accessible Making

  Saquib Sarwar, David Wilson (2025) — ACM Transactions on Accessible Computing

  This systematic literature review examines the intersection of making/fabrication and accessibility through analysis of 113 papers published at ACM conferences between 2010 and 2023. The authors investigate three research questions: which disability …

  • systematic literature review
  • making
  • fabrication
  • DIY assistive technology
  • makerspaces
  • 3D printing
  • co-design
  • participatory design
  • blind and visually impaired
  • tactile interfaces

• Notably Inaccessible — Data Driven Understanding of Data Science Notebook (In)Accessibility

  Venkatesh Potluri, Sudheesh Singanamalla, Nussara Tieanklin, Jennifer Mankoff (2023) — Proceedings of the 25th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS '23)

  This paper presents the first large-scale analysis of the accessibility of computational notebooks — interactive documents combining code, text, and data visualizations that have become the standard tool for data science work. The researchers analyze…

  • computational notebooks
  • data science
  • screen readers
  • blind and visually impaired
  • data visualization
  • alternative text
  • automated testing
  • web accessibility

• Vibration Or Voice? Enhancing EQ Information Accessibility for Blind Music Producers with Haptics

  Christina Karpodini, Tychonas Michailidis, Chris Creed, Tony Stockman, Ian Williams (2025) — ASSETS 2025: 27th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility

  This paper investigates the use of vibrotactile feedback patterns (Tactons) as an alternative to screen readers for conveying equaliser (EQ) audio effect settings to blind and visually impaired (BVI) music producers working in Digital Audio Workstati…

  • blind and visually impaired
  • music production
  • haptic feedback
  • vibrotactile feedback
  • screen reader
  • digital audio workstation
  • tactons
  • accessible music technology

• Beyond Beautiful: Embroidering Legible and Expressive Tactile Graphics

  Margaret Ellen Seehorn, Claris Winston, Bo Liu, Gene S-H Kim, Emily White, Nupur Gorkar, Kate S Glazko, Aashaka Desai, Jerry Cao, Megan Hofmann, Jennifer Mankoff (2025) — ASSETS 2025: 27th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility

  This paper explores machine embroidery as a medium for producing tactile graphics—tangible representations of visual information used by blind and visually impaired (BVI) individuals. Current methods for producing tactile graphics, primarily embossin…

  • tactile graphics
  • machine embroidery
  • blind and visually impaired
  • fabrication
  • braille
  • texture design
  • optimization
  • accessibility

• Pictures in Your Mind: Using Interactive Gesture-Controlled Reliefs to Explore Art

  Andreas Reichinger, Helena Garcia Carrizosa, Joanna Wood, Svenja Schröder, Christian Löw, Laura Rosalia Luidolt, Maria Schimkowitsch, Anton Fuhrmann, Stefan Maierhofer, Werner Purgathofer (2018) — ACM Transactions on Accessible Computing (TACCESS)

  This paper presents an interactive audio guide (IAG) system that combines 3D-printed tactile reliefs with gesture-controlled, location-dependent audio descriptions to make visual art accessible to blind, visually impaired, and cognitively disabled us…

  • tactile graphics
  • museum accessibility
  • blind and visually impaired
  • audio description
  • gesture interaction
  • depth camera
  • multimodal interaction
  • cognitive disability
  • art accessibility
  • 3D printing