Literature Reviews

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

• HapticLens: Interactive Vibrotactile Haptic Generation from Spatially Localized Video Motion

  Kevin John, Hasti Seifi (2026) — Proceedings of the 2026 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI '26)

  HapticLens is an interactive method for generating single-actuator vibrotactile signals from arbitrary video content by letting a designer select a spatial region of interest and converting motion within that region into a vibration waveform in real …

  • haptics
  • vibrotactile feedback
  • video-to-haptics
  • computer vision
  • multimodal interaction
  • sensory substitution
  • blind and low vision
  • multimedia accessibility
  • haptic design
  • non-visual access

• Improving Non-Visual Web Access Using Context

  Jalal Mahmud, Yevgen Borodin, Dipanjan Das, I.V. Ramakrishnan (2006) — Proceedings of the 8th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (Assets '06)

  This paper presents CSurf, a context-directed non-visual web browsing system that significantly reduces browsing time for blind users by intelligently rearranging page content based on navigational context. The core insight is that when a sighted use…

  • screen readers
  • non-visual access
  • web navigation
  • context analysis
  • web page segmentation
  • content rearrangement
  • blind users
  • browsing efficiency

• Analyzing Visual Layout for a Non-Visual Presentation-Document Interface

  Tatsuya Ishihara, Hironobu Takagi, Takashi Itoh, Chieko Asakawa (2006) — Proceedings of the 8th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (Assets '06)

  This paper from IBM Japan tackles a fundamental accessibility challenge: presentation documents (like PowerPoint slides) convey information primarily through visual layout, making them inherently difficult for blind screen reader users to understand.…

  • screen readers
  • presentation accessibility
  • diagram accessibility
  • visual layout analysis
  • metadata
  • non-visual access
  • document accessibility
  • alternative interface

• BlackBoardNV: A System for Enabling Non-Visual Access to the Blackboard Course Management System

  Vineet Enagandula, Niraj Juthani, I. V. Ramakrishnan, Devashish Rawal, Ritwick Vidyasagar (2005) — Proceedings of the 7th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (Assets '05)

  This paper introduces BlackBoardNV, a system designed to make the Blackboard Learning Management System accessible to users with visual disabilities through non-visual (audio and keyboard) interaction. The core problem addressed is that screen reader…

  • screen readers
  • web accessibility
  • education
  • non-visual access
  • content analysis
  • learning management system
  • assistive technology

• Annotation-Based Transcoding for Nonvisual Web Access

  Chieko Asakawa, Hironobu Takagi (2000) — Proceedings of the Fourth International ACM Conference on Assistive Technologies (Assets '00)

  This companion paper to the same authors' transcoding proxy paper (also at Assets '00) provides a detailed technical description of the annotation-based component of their IBM Japan transcoding system. The core problem addressed is that modern web pa…

  • web accessibility
  • screen reader
  • transcoding
  • non-visual access
  • blindness and low vision
  • annotations
  • content adaptation
  • web navigation
  • crowdsourcing
  • authoring tools

• Tactile Imaging Using Watershed-Based Image Segmentation

  Sergio E. Hernandez, Kenneth E. Barner (2000) — Proceedings of the Fourth International ACM Conference on Assistive Technologies (Assets '00)

  This paper from the University of Delaware proposes a new image segmentation method for automatically converting visual images into tactile representations suitable for display on tactile devices such as microcapsule (swell) paper. The core problem a…

  • tactile graphics
  • image processing
  • blindness and low vision
  • image accessibility
  • computer vision
  • non-visual access
  • accessible graphics

• Transcoding Proxy for Nonvisual Web Access

  Hironobu Takagi, Chieko Asakawa (2000) — Proceedings of the Fourth International ACM Conference on Assistive Technologies (Assets '00)

  This paper presents a transcoding proxy system developed at IBM Japan that transforms existing web pages to be more accessible for blind users. The authors address the growing problem of web pages being designed with increasingly complex layouts that…

  • web accessibility
  • screen reader
  • transcoding
  • proxy
  • blind and low vision
  • non-visual access
  • annotations
  • content adaptation
  • web navigation

• AudioGraf: A Diagram-Reader for the Blind

  Andrea R. Kennel (1996) — Proceedings of the Second Annual ACM Conference on Assistive Technologies (Assets '96)

  This paper from ETH Zürich presents AudioGraf, a system that enables blind and visually impaired users to read diagrams through a combination of touch panel input and auditory display. The core problem addressed is that diagrams — widely used in tech…

  • blindness and low vision
  • auditory display
  • tactile graphics
  • diagram accessibility
  • non-visual access
  • touch panel
  • sonification
  • audio-tactile

• Say It All: Feedback for Improving Non-Visual Presentation Accessibility

  Yi-Hao Peng, JiWoong Jang, Jeffrey P. Bigham, Amy Pavel (2021) — Proceedings of the 2021 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI '21)

  This paper addresses the widespread problem of inaccessible slide-based presentations for blind and visually impaired audiences. When presenters fail to verbally describe the visual content on their slides — text, images, diagrams, graphs, and videos…

  • presentation accessibility
  • slides
  • audio description
  • blind and low vision
  • real-time feedback
  • authoring tools
  • non-visual access

• Consistency of a Tactile Pattern Set

  Denise Prescher, Jens Bornschein, Gerhard Weber (2017) — ACM Transactions on Accessible Computing

  This paper addresses a fundamental challenge in tactile graphics production: how to create fill patterns that remain recognizable and distinguishable across different production media with varying resolutions. The three media studied were microcapsul…

  • tactile graphics
  • blindness
  • non-visual access
  • fill patterns
  • cross-media consistency
  • user-centered design