Glossary

Search results

Active Exploration(also: User-Directed Exploration)

An interaction paradigm in non-visual interfaces where users physically control their navigation through information, discovering content by directing a pointer, stylus, or finger across a surface or through a virtual space. In contrast to passive exploration, where the entire…

Audio-Based Virtual Environment(also: Audio Virtual Environment, Sound-Based Virtual World, Auditory Virtual Environment)

An audio-based virtual environment is a computer-generated interactive space that uses sound — including 3D spatial audio, stereo effects, and environmental audio cues — as the primary channel for conveying information about the virtual world, enabling navigation, orientation,…

Audio-to-Haptics Translation(also: Audio-haptic translation, Audio-to-vibration conversion)

A class of techniques that convert audio signals — either recordings of real-world interactions or AI-generated sounds — into vibrotactile patterns that can be rendered through actuators embedded in phones, tablets, wearables, or specialized haptic displays. Because the…

Auditory User Interface(also: AUI, Audio User Interface)

A user interface that relies primarily on audio output — including synthesised speech, earcons, auditory icons, and sonification — to convey information and enable interaction. Auditory user interfaces are essential for users who are blind or have low vision, and they can…

Dialog Interface(also: Dialogue Interface, Conversational Interface)

A user interface paradigm in which interaction occurs through a structured exchange of prompts and responses, typically using speech or text. In assistive technology contexts, dialog interfaces present content and navigation options through audio prompts, allowing users to make…

Displayless Interface(also: Screenless Interface, Eyes-Free Interface)

A displayless interface is a computer interaction system that operates without a visual display, relying instead on audio, speech, haptic, or other non-visual output modalities. These interfaces serve two overlapping user populations: individuals with visual impairments who…

Focus and Context(also: Focus+Context, Detail in Context)

An information visualization and interaction design principle that simultaneously presents detailed information about a specific item of interest (focus) alongside an overview of the surrounding structure or environment (context). In accessibility, the focus+context approach is…

Geo-referenced Data(also: Geospatial Data, Geographic Data, Georeferenced Data)

Data that is associated with specific geographic locations or regions, such as population statistics by county, crime rates by neighbourhood, or election results by district. Geo-referenced data is typically presented on maps using visual encodings like colour gradients, which…

Hand-Object Interaction(also: Hand-Object Interactions, HOI)

The full range of physical actions people perform when grasping, touching, holding, manipulating, or gesturing toward objects with their hands. In accessibility research, hand-object interactions are studied as natural intent cues that can drive assistive technology: for blind…

Haptic Icon(also: Hapticon)

A short, structured vibrotactile or force pattern designed to carry meaning in the same way a graphical icon or audio earcon does, allowing users to recognize a category of information — an alert, material, identity, or state — through touch alone. The concept generalizes…

Haptic Rendering(also: Haptic display rendering)

The process of computing and outputting touch-based signals — forces, vibrations, textures, or friction — so that a user can perceive virtual or remote objects through the sense of touch. Haptic rendering covers kinesthetic rendering (force feedback via joysticks, exoskeletons,…

Hearcon(also: 3D Earcon)

An extension of the earcon concept that adds three-dimensional spatial audio properties to non-speech audio cues used in computer interfaces. While earcons are abstract synthesized sounds that represent interface events or objects, hearcons position these sounds in 3D space…

Hyperstory(also: Interactive Story, Branching Narrative, Hypertext Story)

A hyperstory is an interactive, non-linear narrative structure in which users make choices that influence the direction and outcome of the story. Adapted from hypertext concepts, hyperstories combine storytelling with interactive exploration, allowing users to navigate through…

Kinaesthetic Perception(also: Kinesthetic Perception, Kinaesthesia, Kinesthesia)

The sensory awareness of the position, movement, and force of body parts, derived from receptors in muscles, tendons, and joints. In the context of haptic technology and accessibility, kinaesthetic perception provides information about the shape, weight, and spatial extent of…

Logical Navigation(also: Structural Navigation, Semantic Navigation)

A non-visual navigation strategy in which a user moves through a web page by its semantic structure — jumping between heading levels, ARIA landmarks, skip links, form fields, or other role-tagged regions — rather than reading the content sequentially or sampling fragments by…

Mid-Air Ultrasound Haptics(also: Ultrasound Haptics, Airborne Ultrasound Tactile Display, AUTD)

A non-contact haptic technology that uses phased arrays of ultrasonic transducers to focus acoustic radiation pressure onto a user's skin, producing tactile sensations in mid-air without any worn or held device. By modulating the intensity, focal-point location, and trajectory…

Non-Contact Haptics(also: Contactless Haptics, Device-Free Haptics)

A class of haptic feedback techniques that render tactile sensations on the user's body without requiring physical contact with a device, surface, or wearable. Common approaches include mid-air ultrasound haptics, air-vortex rings, and laser-induced plasma. Because they avoid…

Non-Speech Audio(also: Non-Verbal Audio, Non-Speech Sound)

Auditory output that conveys information through sounds other than spoken words — for example tones, clicks, earcons, auditory icons, musical motifs, or vowel-like timbres. Non-speech audio is widely used in accessibility because it can be faster and less cognitively demanding…

Non-Visual Drawing(also: Blind Drawing, Drawing Without Sight)

The practice of creating graphical representations — such as diagrams, shapes, charts, or illustrations — without relying on visual feedback. Non-visual drawing can be accomplished through tactile methods (using raised line drawing kits or embossing tools), audio-tactile methods…

Nonvisual Access(also: Non-Visual Access, Nonvisual Web Access, Non-Visual Web Access)

The use of digital content, particularly web pages and applications, through means other than sight. Nonvisual access typically involves screen readers that convert text to speech, braille displays that render content tactilely, or other assistive technologies that present…

Passive Exploration(also: System-Directed Presentation)

An interaction paradigm in non-visual interfaces where a complete representation of information is presented to the user all at once, rather than being discovered through user-directed navigation. In the context of accessible graphics and data visualisation, passive exploration…

Radial Direction(also: Angular Direction, Heading, Bearing (audio display))

In auditory-display research, a data value that represents a direction in a plane — for example a compass bearing, the tangent of a curve, or the orientation of a pointer — treated as an angle rather than as a pair of Cartesian coordinates. Radial values are inherently circular…

Scanning Navigation(also: Non-Visual Scanning, Auditory Scanning)

A non-visual navigation strategy in which a screen-reader or voice-browser user steps rapidly through a page one fragment at a time — line by line, item by item, or in fixed jumps (e.g. page-down keys) — listening just long enough to each fragment to detect an 'information…

Sentence-Level Bookmark(also: In-Page Bookmark, Content Bookmark)

A type of bookmark that marks a specific position within a web page's content, rather than simply saving the page's URL. Sentence-level bookmarks allow users — particularly those using screen readers or speech-based interfaces — to jump directly to a known location within a long…

Speech-Based Navigation(also: Audio Navigation, Speech-Based Web Navigation)

A method of navigating digital content, particularly web pages, using synthesised speech output rather than visual display. In speech-based navigation, users listen to content read aloud sequentially and use keyboard commands to move between elements. This approach is inherently…

Table Reading Style(also: Table Reading Strategy, Table Browsing Style)

The particular way in which a reader accesses and processes the content of a data table, determined by the interaction between the table's structure, content, and the reader's intent. Common table reading styles include: by cell (random access to individual cells), by row…

Texture Perception(also: Texture sense, Tactile texture perception)

The perceptual capacity to detect and characterize surface properties — roughness, smoothness, bumpiness, graininess, stickiness, and directional patterns — through touch, vision, or cross-modal integration. Texture perception draws on multiple tactile channels including…

Touchpad Navigation(also: Trackpad Navigation)

A method of interacting with digital content by dragging fingers or pressing specific positions on a smooth-surface touchpad input device. In accessibility contexts, touchpad navigation enables direct manipulation of spatial interfaces — such as maps or diagrams — by mapping…

Tree Navigation(also: Hierarchical Navigation, Tree View Navigation)

The process of moving through and exploring hierarchical data structures (trees) such as file systems, program structures, organizational charts, or menu systems. In accessible computing, tree navigation is a significant challenge because screen readers typically present tree…

Vibro-Audio Map(also: VAM, Vibro-Audio Display)

A multimodal map representation for touchscreen devices that combines vibrotactile feedback with synchronised audio cues to convey spatial information non-visually. Users explore the map by dragging a finger across the screen; when they cross a feature (a street, a room…

Voicemark(also: Voice Bookmark, Audio Bookmark)

A navigable audio marker or bookmark that allows users to quickly locate and access specific sections of web content or documents through speech or keyboard interaction. Voicemarks are created by analyzing and labeling content segments, then storing these labeled references in a…

31 results.