Literature Reviews

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

• I Can Do It: Exploring Voice Assistants for Adults with Intellectual Disabilities

  Madhuka Nadeeshani, Jacqueline Johnstone, Kirsten Ellis, Swamy Ananthanarayan (2026) — Proceedings of the 2026 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI '26)

  This CHI 2026 paper reports an eight-week deployment of screen-based voice assistants (Google Nest Hub and Amazon Echo Show 8) with 17 adults with intellectual disabilities (ID) — including co-occurring autism spectrum disorder, cerebral palsy, Rett …

  • voice assistant
  • intellectual disability
  • smart display
  • cognitive accessibility
  • qualitative research
  • speech recognition
  • peer support

• Disability-First AI Dataset Annotation: Co-designing Stuttered Speech Annotation Guidelines with People Who Stutter

  Xinru Tang, Jingjin Li, Shaomei Wu (2026) — Proceedings of the 2026 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI '26)

  Tang, Li, and Wu present the first study to push the 'disability-first' principle beyond dataset collection and into the dataset annotation stage of the AI pipeline. Their case is stuttered speech: despite a growing number of stuttering datasets (Flu…

  • AI dataset annotation
  • stuttering
  • speech recognition
  • disability-first design
  • embodied knowledge
  • data labeling
  • accessibility
  • speech technology
  • co-design
  • epistemic injustice
  • AI ethics
  • AI fairness

• The Intelligent Voice-Interactive Interface

  Christopher Schmandt, Eric A. Hulteen (1982) — Proceedings of the 1982 Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI '82)

  Schmandt and Hulteen describe the 'Put That There' system built at MIT's Architecture Machine Group (the precursor to the Media Lab), one of the earliest working implementations of a conversational, multimodal human–computer interface. Seated in a ch…

  • speech recognition
  • voice interface
  • multimodal interaction
  • gesture recognition
  • historical
  • natural language interface
  • redundant input
  • accessible input

• VoiceDraw: a hands-free voice-driven drawing application for people with motor impairments

  Susumu Harada, Jacob O. Wobbrock, James A. Landay (2007) — Proceedings of the 9th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (Assets '07)

  Harada, Wobbrock, and Landay's Assets '07 paper introduces VoiceDraw, a hands-free digital painting application for people with severe motor impairments that uses *non-speech* vocalisations — continuously-held vowel sounds and short consonant clicks …

  • motor accessibility
  • voice interface
  • non-speech vocalisation
  • speech recognition
  • vocal joystick
  • hands-free
  • creative accessibility
  • direct manipulation
  • spinal cord injury
  • user-centred design

• Non-speech Input and Speech Recognition for Real-time Control of Computer Games

  Adam J. Sporka, Sri H. Kurniawan, Murni Mahmud, Pavel Slavik (2006) — Proceedings of the 8th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (Assets '06)

  This paper compares two acoustic input methods — speech recognition and non-speech humming — for controlling the arcade game Tetris in real time. The motivation is that while turn-based and strategic games are not greatly affected by motor impairment…

  • game accessibility
  • speech recognition
  • non-speech input
  • motor impairment
  • voice control
  • real-time interaction
  • arcade games
  • alternative input

• The Impact of User Research on Product Design Case Study: Accessibility Ecosystem for Windows Vista

  Annuska Perkins, Tira Cohene (2006) — Proceedings of the 8th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (Assets '06)

  This paper describes how user research conducted by Microsoft's Windows Accessible Technology Group shaped the accessibility features in Windows Vista. The research encompassed a wide range of users across major disability types (vision, dexterity, h…

  • accessibility
  • user research
  • operating system
  • universal design
  • usability
  • aging
  • speech recognition
  • assistive technology
  • discoverability

• A Voice-Activated Syntax-Directed Editor for Manually Disabled Programmers

  Thomas J. Hubbell, David D. Langan, Thomas F. Hain (2006) — Proceedings of the 8th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (Assets '06)

  This paper presents VASDE (Voice-Activated Syntax-Directed Editor), a programming environment designed to allow people with manual disabilities to write Java code using voice commands instead of a keyboard and mouse. The authors argue that traditiona…

  • speech recognition
  • programming
  • motor impairment
  • voice input
  • IDE
  • assistive technology
  • repetitive stress injury
  • software development

• A Flexible VXML Interpreter for Non-Visual Web Access

  Yevgen Borodin (2006) — Proceedings of the 8th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (Assets '06)

  This doctoral consortium paper from Stony Brook University presents VXMLSurf, an open-source VoiceXML interpreter being developed as part of the HearSay project for non-visual web browsing. VoiceXML is the W3C standard for specifying interactive voic…

  • VoiceXML
  • non-visual browsing
  • voice browser
  • blind users
  • screen readers
  • speech recognition
  • web accessibility
  • open source

• Speech-Based Cursor Control: A Study of Grid-Based Solutions

  Liwei Dai, Rich Goldman, Andrew Sears, Jeremy Lozier (2004) — Proceedings of the 6th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (Assets 04)

  This paper investigates grid-based approaches to speech-controlled cursor positioning, addressing a well-documented weakness of speech recognition technology: while dictation-based text entry has improved dramatically, using speech for precise cursor…

  • speech recognition
  • cursor control
  • motor accessibility
  • voice interaction
  • input methods
  • grid-based navigation
  • hands-free computing

• Voice over Workplace (VoWP): Voice Navigation in a Complex Business GUI

  Frankie James, Jeff Roelands (2002) — Proceedings of the Fifth International ACM Conference on Assistive Technologies (Assets 02)

  This paper explores the design of voice navigation interfaces for complex business GUIs, specifically SAP Workplace, to support physically disabled users who cannot use a mouse or keyboard. The authors conducted two user studies examining the fundame…

  • voice interface
  • speech recognition
  • physical disability
  • GUI accessibility
  • navigation
  • enterprise software
  • user study