Literature Reviews

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

• A Parametric Approach to Sign Language Synthesis

  Amanda Irving, Richard Foulds (2005) — Proceedings of the 7th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (Assets '05)

  This paper describes a parametric approach to synthesizing American Sign Language (ASL) using a commercially available human avatar (UGS Jack) driven by kinematic parameters. The system addresses the fundamental challenge that signed and spoken langu…

  • sign language
  • sign language synthesis
  • signing avatar
  • American Sign Language
  • animation
  • deaf accessibility
  • fingerspelling
  • motion capture

• Modeling and Generating Sign Language as Animated Line Drawings

  Frank Godenschweger, Thomas Strothotte (1998) — Proceedings of the Third International ACM Conference on Assistive Technologies (Assets '98)

  This paper from Otto-von-Guericke University of Magdeburg introduces a system for generating sign language as animated line drawings rather than photorealistic 3D renderings. The authors argue that the prevailing approach of creating increasingly rea…

  • sign language
  • sign language animation
  • deafness
  • computer graphics
  • non-photorealistic rendering
  • assistive technology
  • sign language synthesis

• Evaluation of a psycholinguistically motivated timing model for animations of American Sign Language

  Matt Huenerfauth (2008) — Proceedings of the 10th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (Assets '08)

  This paper investigates how psycholinguistic insights about the timing and speed of American Sign Language (ASL) can improve computer-generated sign language animations. The author developed two algorithms — a sign-duration algorithm and a pause-inse…

  • sign language
  • American Sign Language
  • animation
  • natural language generation
  • deaf accessibility
  • psycholinguistics
  • sign language synthesis

• Assessing the Deaf User Perspective on Sign Language Avatars

  Michael Kipp, Quan Nguyen, Alexis Heloir, Silke Matthes (2011) — Proceedings of the 13th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS 2011)

  This paper investigates Deaf community attitudes toward sign language avatars — virtual characters that perform sign language — through focus groups and a large-scale online study. Sign language avatars have the potential to make written content acce…

  • deaf
  • sign language avatar
  • German Sign Language
  • user acceptance
  • focus groups
  • participatory design
  • sign language synthesis
  • nonmanual features
  • accessibility

• Comparing Native Signers' Perception of American Sign Language Animations and Videos via Eye Tracking

  Hernisa Kacorri, Allen Harper, Matt Huenerfauth (2013) — Proceedings of the 15th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS)

  This paper investigates whether eye tracking can serve as an alternative or complementary evaluation method for assessing the quality of synthesized American Sign Language (ASL) animations. Computer-generated ASL animations offer accessibility benefi…

  • sign language
  • American Sign Language
  • animation
  • eye tracking
  • deaf accessibility
  • facial expression
  • user study
  • sign language synthesis

• Pattern recognition and synthesis for sign language translation system

  M. Ohki, H. Sagawa, T. Sakiyama, E. Oohira, H. Ikeda, H. Fujisawa (1994) — Proceedings of the First Annual ACM Conference on Assistive Technologies (Assets '94)

  This paper describes a bidirectional sign language translation system being developed to translate between Japanese Sign Language (JSL) and written Japanese. The system addresses both directions of translation: recognizing sign language input and con…

  • sign language recognition
  • sign language synthesis
  • Japanese Sign Language
  • gesture recognition
  • DataGlove
  • 3D animation
  • computer graphics
  • machine translation
  • deaf and hard of hearing
  • pattern recognition
  • bidirectional translation

• Web-based Chinese sign language broadcasting system

  Dengfeng Yao, Yunfeng Qiu, Harry Huang (2009) — Proceedings of the 2009 International Cross-Disciplinary Conference on Web Accessibililty (W4A)

  This paper presents a web-based Chinese Sign Language (CSL) Broadcasting System that automatically translates text on web pages into animated 3D sign language gestures displayed through a browser plugin. The system addresses an often-overlooked acces…

  • sign language
  • deaf accessibility
  • sign language synthesis
  • 3D animation
  • Chinese Sign Language
  • text-to-sign
  • web accessibility
  • multilingual access