Literature Reviews

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

• LaboSignes: an Interactive French Sign Language Recognition Interface

  Jules Françoise, Julie Lascar, Cyril Verrechia, Sidonie Minodier, Michèle Gouiffès, Annelies Braffort (2026) — Extended Abstracts of the 2026 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI EA ’26)

  LaboSignes is a web-based interactive French Sign Language (LSF) recognition system aimed at search-by-sign, addressing the fact that most online resources, including bilingual dictionaries and news sites, are navigable only through written French, w…

  • sign language
  • French Sign Language
  • sign language recognition
  • Deaf accessibility
  • gesture recognition
  • interface design
  • transformer
  • pose estimation
  • web accessibility

• Human Diversity and the Choice of Interface: A Design Challenge

  Starr Roxanne Hiltz, Murray Turoff (1981) — Proceedings of the Joint Conference on Easier and More Productive Use of Computer Systems (CHI '81), Part II: Human Interface and the User Interface

  Hiltz and Turoff report findings from a multi-year National Science Foundation-funded field trial of the Electronic Information Exchange System (EIES), a pioneering computer-mediated communication platform built at the New Jersey Institute of Technol…

  • user interface
  • computer-mediated communication
  • adaptive interface
  • personalization
  • novice vs expert
  • user support
  • historical
  • interface design
  • human diversity

• Exploring Interface Design for Independent Navigation by People with Visual Impairments

  Erin L. Brady, Daisuke Sato, Chengxiong Ruan, Hironobu Takagi, Chieko Asakawa (2015) — ASSETS 2015: Proceedings of the 17th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers & Accessibility

  This short poster paper from ASSETS 2015 explores how people with visual impairments respond to different navigation interface designs during in situ walking tasks. The authors observe that prior research has been limited in two ways: user studies of…

  • visual impairment
  • blind navigation
  • non-visual navigation
  • wayfinding
  • wizard of oz
  • interface design
  • sonification
  • haptic feedback
  • speech output
  • orientation and mobility

• Designing AAC Interfaces for Commercial Brain-Computer Interaction Gaming Hardware

  Stephen Steward (2009) — Proceedings of the 11th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (Assets '09)

  This paper explores repurposing a low-cost commercial brain-computer interface (BCI) gaming device — the OCZ Technologies Neural Impulse Actuator (NIA) — as an input device for augmentative and alternative communication (AAC). The NIA is a headband t…

  • augmentative and alternative communication
  • brain-computer interface
  • assistive technology
  • motor impairment
  • speech impairment
  • switch access
  • interface design

• Relating Computer Tasks to Existing Knowledge to Improve Accessibility for Older Adults

  Nic Hollinworth, Faustina Hwang (2010) — Proceedings of the 12th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS 2010)

  This paper investigates whether a custom file management interface designed to resemble physical paper documents, folders, and sticky labels can improve computer accessibility for older adults. The authors identify a fundamental problem: people learn…

  • older adults
  • digital literacy
  • interface design
  • file management
  • skeuomorphic design
  • learnability
  • touchscreen
  • cognitive accessibility

• Utterance-Based Systems: Organization and Design of AAC Interfaces

  Timothy J. Walsh (2010) — Proceedings of the 12th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS 2010)

  This paper describes the design and development of an utterance-based AAC interface for literate, high-functioning adults who need communication support in public situations such as restaurants or shops. The central design challenge in AAC interfaces…

  • augmentative and alternative communication
  • interface design
  • utterance-based system
  • communication rate
  • assistive technology
  • speech generation

• Multi-Layered Interfaces to Improve Older Adults' Initial Learnability of Mobile Applications

  Rock Leung, Leah Findlater, Joanna McGrenere, Peter Graf, Justine Yang (2010) — ACM Transactions on Accessible Computing

  This paper investigates whether multi-layered (ML) interfaces can improve the learnability of mobile applications for older adults. ML interfaces present novice users with a simplified, reduced-functionality layer containing only basic features, allo…

  • aging
  • older adults
  • mobile accessibility
  • learnability
  • interface design
  • cognitive accessibility
  • menu design

• Development and Theoretical Evaluation of Optimized Phonemic Interfaces

  Gabriel J. Cler, Cara E. Stepp (2017) — Proceedings of the 19th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS '17)

  This paper presents the development and computational evaluation of optimized phonemic communication interfaces for augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) users. Unlike traditional letter-based (orthographic) interfaces like QWERTY keyboard…

  • augmentative and alternative communication
  • motor disability
  • input methods
  • interface design
  • speech synthesis
  • communication accessibility
  • optimization

• Semiotics Contributions to Accessible Interface Design

  María Inés Laitano (2015) — Proceedings of the 12th International Web for All Conference (W4A)

  This extended abstract argues that semiotic theory — the study of signs and meaning-making — can complement WCAG-based approaches to produce more meaningfully accessible interfaces. Laitano contrasts the WAI model, which centres on content (informati…

  • semiotics
  • interface design
  • WCAG
  • alt text
  • communication strategy
  • auditory icons
  • accessible design
  • design theory