Literature Reviews

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

• Investigating the Role of Agentic AI in Facilitating Travel Planning for People with Low Vision

  Ranran Ding, Maryam Bandukda (2026) — Extended Abstracts of the 2026 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI EA ’26)

  This CHI 2026 Extended Abstract examines a stage of accessible travel that most assistive-technology research has overlooked: the pre-trip planning work people with low vision (PLV) do before ever leaving the house. The authors argue that most existi…

  • low vision
  • wayfinding
  • agentic AI
  • large language models
  • conversational agents
  • voice interface
  • co-design
  • autonomy
  • trust
  • orientation and mobility

• Toward Independent Online Shopping of the Visually Impaired Through Voice-based Computer-Using Agent

  Subin Shin, Jeesun Oh, Suhyun Kim, Seoyeon Eom, Sangwon Lee (2026) — Proceedings of the 2026 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI '26)

  This CHI 2026 paper investigates how visually impaired users might shop online independently by interacting with a voice-based Computer-Using Agent (CUA) — an AI agent built on a Large Multimodal Model (LMM) that can perceive a screen, reason about i…

  • visual impairment
  • blindness
  • low vision
  • voice interface
  • conversational user interfaces
  • AI agents
  • large multimodal models
  • online shopping
  • e-commerce accessibility
  • human-AI interaction
  • wizard-of-oz
  • qualitative research

• 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

• Accessibility for Deaf and Hard of Hearing Users: Sign Language Conversational User Interfaces

  Abraham Glasser, Vaishnavi Mande, Matt Huenerfauth (2020) — Proceedings of the 2nd Conference on Conversational User Interfaces (CUI '20)

  This short CUI 2020 position paper (3 pages, presented at the CUI@CHI workshop) lays out the research agenda for making voice-based conversational user interfaces (CUIs) — Alexa, Google Assistant, and similar personal assistant devices — accessible t…

  • deaf and hard of hearing
  • sign language
  • conversational user interfaces
  • personal assistants
  • american sign language
  • automatic speech recognition
  • universal design
  • voice interface

• Deaf Users' Preferences Among Wake-Up Approaches during Sign-Language Interaction with Personal Assistant Devices

  Vaishnavi Mande, Abraham Glasser, Becca Dingman, Matt Huenerfauth (2021) — Extended Abstracts of the 2021 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI EA '21)

  This CHI 2021 Extended Abstract investigates a narrow but previously unexplored question: if future personal-assistant devices (Alexa, Google Assistant, etc.) could recognise sign language, how should Deaf users wake them up? Current wake-up mechanis…

  • deaf and hard of hearing
  • sign language
  • personal assistants
  • voice interface
  • conversational user interfaces
  • american sign language
  • deaf culture
  • privacy
  • qualitative research

• Comparing speaker-dependent and speaker-adaptive acoustic models for recognizing dysarthric speech

  Frank Rudzicz (2007) — Proceedings of the 9th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS '07)

  This short ASSETS 2007 poster from Frank Rudzicz at the University of Toronto compares two strategies for building automatic speech recognition (ASR) acoustic models that work for people with dysarthria — a set of motor speech disorders that produces…

  • dysarthria
  • automatic speech recognition
  • acoustic model
  • speaker adaptation
  • hidden Markov model
  • phoneme
  • speech intelligibility
  • motor speech disorders
  • machine learning
  • augmentative and alternative communication
  • speech accessibility
  • voice interface

• 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

• Demo of VJ-Voicebot: Control of Robotic Arm with the Vocal Joystick

  Brandi House, Jon Malkin, Jeff Bilmes (2007) — Proceedings of the 9th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (Assets '07)

  This demonstration paper from the University of Washington presents VJ-Voicebot, a system that allows individuals with motor disabilities to continuously control a 5 degrees-of-freedom robotic arm using non-verbal vocal sounds. The system builds on t…

  • assistive robotics
  • voice interface
  • motor impairment
  • continuous voice control
  • robotic arm
  • vocal joystick
  • alternative input
  • independent living

• Humming Control Interface for Hand-held Devices

  Sook Young Won, Dong-In Lee, Julius Smith (2007) — Proceedings of the 9th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (Assets '07)

  This paper from Stanford University presents a control-by-humming interface that allows hands-free operation of portable devices such as cell phones and music players through subvocal humming detected by a Bluetooth-connected insertion earphone/micro…

  • alternative input
  • hands-free control
  • subvocal input
  • pitch detection
  • motor impairment
  • mobile accessibility
  • voice interface
  • assistive technology

• The Migratory Cursor: Accurate Speech-Based Cursor Movement by Moving Multiple Ghost Cursors Using Non-Verbal Vocalizations

  Yoshiyuki Mihara, Etsuya Shibayama, Shin Takahashi (2005) — Proceedings of the 7th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (Assets '05)

  This paper presents the migratory cursor, a novel voice-controlled cursor movement interface that combines two complementary techniques to achieve both speed and accuracy. The fundamental challenge with speech-based cursor control is that existing ap…

  • cursor control
  • voice interface
  • speech technology
  • motor accessibility
  • alternative input
  • assistive technology
  • non-verbal interaction