Glossary

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Minimum Clinically Important Difference(also: MCID, Minimal Clinically Important Difference)

The smallest change in a measurement that is perceived as beneficial or meaningful from a clinical perspective. MCID thresholds help researchers and clinicians distinguish statistically significant changes from clinically meaningful improvements. In digital health and assistive…

NASA Task Load Index(also: NASA-TLX, TLX)

A widely used subjective workload assessment tool developed by NASA that measures perceived workload across six dimensions: mental demand, physical demand, temporal demand, performance, effort, and frustration. In accessibility research, NASA-TLX is frequently employed to…

Near Visual Acuity(also: NVA, Near Acuity)

A measure of the eye's ability to resolve fine detail at a close distance, typically tested at 40 centimetres. Near visual acuity is particularly important for tasks involving reading, handheld device use, and close-up work. It is commonly measured using Snellen notation (e.g.,…

Neck Range of Motion(also: Cervical Range of Motion, Neck ROM)

The extent to which a person can move their head and neck through three planes of rotation: flexion and extension (nodding forward and backward), axial rotation (turning left and right), and lateral bending (tilting ear toward shoulder). Normal active neck range of motion varies…

Neuropsychological Assessment(also: Neuropsychological Testing, Cognitive Assessment)

A systematic evaluation of cognitive, behavioural, and emotional functioning through standardised tests designed to measure specific brain-behaviour relationships. In the context of accessibility and rehabilitation, neuropsychological assessments are used to identify and…

Normative Language(also: Normativity in Assessment)

Language in assessment tools, questionnaires, or descriptions that implicitly establishes neurotypical or non-disabled experience as the standard against which all responses are measured. In emotional dysregulation measures, normative language includes loaded adjectives like…

Occupational Therapy Assessment(also: OT Assessment, OT Evaluation, Client Evaluation)

Occupational therapy assessment is the systematic process by which an occupational therapist evaluates a client's physical capabilities, cognitive function, emotional state, and ability to perform daily living activities in order to develop an appropriate treatment plan.…

Operant Conditioning(also: Instrumental Conditioning, Operant Learning)

A learning process in which behaviour is modified by its consequences — specifically, by reinforcement (rewards that increase the likelihood of the behaviour) or punishment (consequences that decrease it). In accessibility research and clinical assessment, operant conditioning…

Pelli-Robson Chart(also: Pelli-Robson Contrast Sensitivity Chart)

The Pelli-Robson chart is a clinical tool used to measure contrast sensitivity — the ability to detect objects at low-to-moderate contrast levels. The chart consists of a series of letter-charts composed of different contrasts, mapping a contrast-sensitivity function for the…

Person-Technology Match(also: PTM, Matching Person and Technology)

A systematic approach to selecting assistive technology by evaluating the fit between a person's specific abilities, needs, preferences, and environment and the features and demands of available technologies. The person-technology match process recognizes that the most…

Personality Test(also: Personality Inventory, Personality Assessment)

A psychometric instrument that attempts to quantify traits such as conscientiousness, extraversion, emotional stability, or risk tolerance. Personality tests were introduced in industry during and after World War I to screen for "maladjusted" workers, and are now the most…

Pointing Task(also: Target Acquisition Task, Fitts' Task)

A fundamental human-computer interaction task in which users move a cursor (via mouse, touchpad, finger, or other input device) to click or tap on a target. Pointing tasks are governed by Fitts' Law, which predicts that movement time increases with distance to the target and…

Practice Effects(also: Test-Retest Practice Effects, Familiarity Effects)

Practice effects in cognitive assessment refer to the improvement in test scores that occurs not from genuine cognitive change but from increased familiarity with test content and format across repeated administrations. They are a significant limitation of fixed-content…

Process Model of Emotion Regulation(also: Gross Process Model)

A theoretical framework developed by James Gross that conceptualizes emotion regulation as a dynamic, continuous process with four main stages: identification (recognizing an emotion that needs regulation), selection (choosing a regulation strategy such as situation selection,…

Psychometric Test(also: Psychometric Assessment, Psychometric Evaluation)

A standardised measurement instrument designed to assess an individual's cognitive abilities, motor skills, perceptual speed, or other psychological attributes. In accessibility research and usability evaluation, psychometric tests such as the Mini-Mental State Examination…

Psychosocial Impact of Assistive Devices Scale(also: PIADS)

A 26-item self-report questionnaire designed to measure the psychosocial impact of an assistive technology device on a person's functional independence, well-being, and quality of life. PIADS assesses three subscales: competence (subjective feelings of competence, productivity,…

QUEST(also: Quebec User Evaluation of Satisfaction with Assistive Technology)

A standardised outcome measure designed to evaluate a person's satisfaction with their assistive technology device and the services related to it. QUEST 2.0 consists of 12 items rated on a five-point satisfaction scale, covering eight device-related items (dimensions, weight,…

Quality of Communication Life Scale(also: QCL, ASHA QCL)

A self-report assessment developed by ASHA (American Speech-Language-Hearing Association) that measures how communication disorders affect an individual's quality of life. The QCL evaluates domains including socialization, confidence, roles and responsibilities, and independence…

Quality of Life(also: QoL, WHOQOL)

Quality of life (QoL) is a multidimensional construct used in disability, rehabilitation, and accessibility research to capture well-being across physical health, psychological state, social relationships, and environmental factors. The World Health Organization's WHOQOL…

Quality of Life Framework(also: QoL Framework, WHOQOL)

A structured approach to measuring and understanding an individual's overall well-being across multiple domains including physical health, psychological well-being, social relationships, environment, independence, and personal beliefs. The WHO Quality of Life framework (WHOQOL)…

Readability formula(also: readability metric, readability index, readability measure)

A mathematical formula that estimates the difficulty of reading a text, typically based on features like sentence length, word length, syllable count, or vocabulary frequency. Common formulas include Flesch Reading Ease, Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level, SMOG, and Gunning Fog Index.…

Self-Report Measure(also: Self-Report Assessment, Self-Report Questionnaire)

A standardized assessment tool in which individuals rate their own experiences, behaviors, or symptoms, typically using Likert scales or frequency ratings. Self-report measures are widely used in clinical and research settings to assess conditions like emotional dysregulation,…

Semantically Unpredictable Sentences(also: SUS, SUS Test)

A standardised method for evaluating speech intelligibility in which listeners are presented with sentences that are grammatically correct but semantically meaningless, such as "A polite art jumps beneath the arms" or "The law that finished shows the boots." Because the…

Simple Reaction Time(also: SRT, Reaction Time Test)

A psychometric measure of the time it takes a person to respond to a single stimulus, such as pressing a button when a light appears. Simple Reaction Time is used in accessibility and usability research to assess motor performance speed, which can affect how well a user…

Single-Subject Case Study(also: Single-Case Design, N-of-1 Study, Single-Subject Research Design)

A single-subject case study is a research methodology that focuses on detailed observation and analysis of one individual (or a small number of individuals) over time, rather than comparing group averages. Widely used in brain injury rehabilitation and clinical practice, this…

Situational Judgment Test(also: SJT, Situational Judgement Test)

A hiring assessment that presents candidates with hypothetical workplace scenarios and asks them to select the "best" and "worst" responses from a predefined multiple-choice list. SJTs assume a single correct behaviour per scenario, which can systematically disadvantage…

Social Responsiveness Scale(also: SRS-2, SRS)

A standardized questionnaire used to measure the severity of autism spectrum symptoms in individuals aged 2.5 years through adulthood. The SRS-2 assesses social awareness, social cognition, social communication, social motivation, and restricted interests/repetitive behaviors.…

Speech Intelligibility(also: Speech Recognition Score, Word Recognition)

A measure of how well speech can be understood by a listener, typically expressed as the percentage of words or sentences correctly identified under specific listening conditions. Speech intelligibility is affected by factors including audio bandwidth, background noise, signal…

Tower of Hanoi(also: Tower of Hanoi Task, Tower Task)

The Tower of Hanoi is a classic cognitive assessment puzzle used in neuropsychology and educational research to measure multi-step planning and executive function abilities. The task requires moving a set of discs or objects from one position to another according to specific…

Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale(also: UPDRS, MDS-UPDRS)

A standardized clinical assessment tool used to measure the severity and progression of Parkinson's Disease across multiple domains: mental, behavioral, and mood; activities of daily living; motor examination; and treatment complications. The scale is administered by healthcare…

Universal Screening(also: Population Screening, Mass Screening)

A systematic assessment process applied to all individuals in a defined population (such as all students in a school) to identify those who may be at risk for a particular condition, regardless of whether they have been referred or show obvious symptoms. In accessibility and…

VB-MAPP(also: Verbal Behavior Milestones Assessment and Placement Program)

The VB-MAPP (Verbal Behavior Milestones Assessment and Placement Program), developed by Mark Sundberg, is a criterion-referenced assessment and curriculum-planning tool for children with autism and other developmental disabilities. Grounded in Skinner's analysis of verbal…

VLAT(also: Visualization Literacy Assessment Test)

A standardized 53-item test developed by Lee, Kim, and Kwon to measure a person's ability to read and interpret data visualizations across 12 chart types. Widely used as a baseline for comparing visualization literacy between groups and for evaluating the impact of assistive…

Visual Profile(also: Visual Function Profile)

A visual profile is a comprehensive characterization of an individual's visual capabilities across multiple dimensions, typically including visual acuity, contrast sensitivity, visual field, and color perception. In accessibility, understanding a user's visual profile is…

Visual-Motor Integration(also: Visuomotor Integration, VMI, Eye-Hand Integration)

The coordination of visual perception with motor output, enabling activities like writing, drawing, catching a ball, or manipulating objects based on visual information. Visual-motor integration is commonly assessed using standardized tests like the Beery-Buktenica VMI in…

Vocalization Analysis(also: Vocal Analysis, Infant Vocalization Analysis)

Vocalization analysis is the systematic study and measurement of vocal productions, including speech, pre-speech sounds, and non-speech vocalizations. In developmental and clinical contexts, vocalization analysis involves recording, digitizing, and examining acoustic features of…

WHODAS 2.0(also: WHODAS, WHO Disability Assessment Schedule, World Health Organization Disability Assessment Schedule 2.0)

WHODAS 2.0 is the World Health Organization Disability Assessment Schedule, version 2.0, a standardized instrument that measures health and disability across six life domains: cognition, mobility, self-care, getting along with others, life activities, and participation in…

Western Aphasia Battery(also: WAB, WAB-R, Western Aphasia Battery-Revised)

A standardized assessment tool used to evaluate language function in adults with acquired neurological disorders, particularly aphasia following stroke or brain injury. The WAB measures spontaneous speech, auditory verbal comprehension, repetition, and naming to classify aphasia…

Wide-Range Achievement Test(also: WRAT, WRAT-5, WRAT sentence comprehension)

A standardised achievement test used to measure basic academic skills, including word reading, sentence comprehension, spelling, and math computation. In accessibility research, the WRAT sentence-comprehension sub-test has been validated as a measure of English literacy for Deaf…

Y-BOCS(also: Yale-Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale)

The most widely used clinical assessment tool for measuring the severity of OCD symptoms. The Y-BOCS includes a symptom checklist that categorizes obsessions and compulsions by type, and a severity scale that rates the time occupied by symptoms, interference with functioning,…

Zancolli Classification(also: Zancolli Scale)

A clinical classification system for residual upper-limb function after cervical spinal cord injury, developed by Argentine surgeon Eduardo Zancolli. The scale categorises hand and wrist function by the highest preserved motor level (C5, C6, C7, C8) and further subdivides C6 and…

iVector(also: Identity Vector, i-vector)

A low-dimensional representation of voice characteristics widely used in speaker recognition and verification systems. iVectors capture many acoustic aspects of a speaker's voice in a compact form, making them useful for automatically estimating speech intelligibility in people…