Glossary

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Acoustic Accessibility(also: Sound Accessibility)

An emerging framing of accessibility that considers a user's full acoustic environment - which sounds reach them, how loud, and in what mix - as a design surface to be adapted to individual sensory needs rather than treated as fixed background. While hearing accessibility has…

Active Noise Cancellation(also: ANC, Active Noise Control)

A technique that reduces unwanted ambient sound by using microphones to capture incoming noise and electronically generating an inverted (anti-phase) audio signal that destructively interferes with it, lowering the perceived noise reaching the listener's ear. ANC is the core…

Affective Congruency

The degree to which a system's sensory outputs, interactions, and feedback align emotionally with the user's current affective state and the emotional meaning the user attaches to the experience. Distinct from perceptual congruency, affective congruency concerns whether the…

Affective Touch(also: Social Touch, Emotional Touch)

The emotional and social dimension of touch, distinct from discriminative touch that identifies object properties. Affective touch is mediated primarily by C-tactile (CT) afferents in hairy skin and plays a fundamental role in social bonding, emotional communication, and…

Auditory Display(also: Audio Display, Auditory Interface)

The use of sound to convey information, data, or interface state to users. Auditory displays encompass a range of techniques including sonification, earcons, auditory icons, and speech output. In accessibility, auditory displays are critical for providing non-visual access to…

C-tactile Afferents(also: CT afferents, C-tactile fibres, CT fibres)

Unmyelinated, slow-conducting nerve fibres found in hairy skin that respond selectively to gentle, slow stroking touch at velocities of approximately 1-10 cm/s. C-tactile afferents are strongly associated with affective and social touch, activating neural pathways linked to…

Cross-Modal Perception(also: Multisensory perception, Cross-modal integration)

The neural and perceptual integration of information arriving through two or more sensory channels — such as vision, hearing, touch, and proprioception — into a coherent experience of the world. Cross-modal perception explains phenomena such as the McGurk effect,…

Cross-modal Congruency

The temporal, spatial, and semantic alignment of sensory cues during an interaction — for example, a visual event and its accompanying sound occurring at the same moment and in the same location, with matching emotional tone. Congruency differs from correspondence:…

Deep Pressure Therapy(also: DPT, Deep Pressure Stimulation, Deep Touch Pressure)

A therapeutic approach that uses firm, distributed tactile pressure — such as from weighted blankets, compression garments, or inflatable vests — to reduce anxiety, stress, and physiological arousal. Deep pressure stimulation activates the parasympathetic nervous system,…

Desensitization(also: Haptic Adaptation, Vibrotactile Adaptation)

Desensitization in the context of haptic feedback refers to the gradual reduction in a person's sensitivity to continuous or repeated vibrotactile stimulation on the skin. When haptic actuators vibrate continuously at the same location, users progressively become less able to…

Frisson(also: Aesthetic Chills, Musical Chills, Piloerection)

A psychophysiological response to music, art, or other aesthetic stimuli characterised by a pleasurable shiver or chills sensation accompanied by piloerection (goosebumps) and transient increases in heart rate and skin conductance. Frisson is associated with high emotional…

Hearing Impairment(also: Hearing Loss, Hard of Hearing)

A partial or total inability to hear sounds in one or both ears, ranging from mild to profound. Hearing impairment can be congenital or acquired, and may worsen with age (presbycusis). In digital accessibility, hearing impairment necessitates alternatives to audio content such…

Kinesthetic(also: Kinaesthetic)

Kinesthetic refers to the sense of body movement, limb position and muscular effort, arising from receptors in muscles, tendons and joints and closely related to proprioception. In accessibility and interaction-design contexts, kinesthetic cues - such as the pull a partner…

Kinesthetic Perception(also: Kinesthesia, Proprioceptive Perception)

The sensory ability to perceive the position, movement, and forces acting on one's body and limbs through receptors in muscles, tendons, and joints. Kinesthetic perception encompasses awareness of limb position (proprioception), detection of movement and velocity, and sensing of…

Kinesthetics(also: Kinaesthetics, Kinesthesia, Kinesthetic sense)

The sense of body position, movement, and muscular effort derived from receptors in muscles, tendons, and joints. Kinesthetics is closely related to — and often used interchangeably with — proprioception, though kinesthesia typically emphasizes awareness of active movement while…

Material Perception(also: Material recognition)

The perceptual processes by which people identify and characterize the materials that objects are made of — such as wood, metal, glass, leather, fabric, or stone — using visual, tactile, auditory, and sometimes thermal cues. Material perception goes beyond recognizing object…

Multisensory Interaction(also: Multisensory HCI)

Multisensory interaction is an HCI research area concerned with designing and studying systems that engage two or more human senses - sight, hearing, touch, smell, taste, proprioception - simultaneously or in combination. It differs from multimodal interaction (which typically…

Multisensory Stimulation(also: MSS)

A therapeutic and design approach that intentionally coordinates multiple sensory modalities — visual, auditory, tactile, olfactory, and kinetic — to support affective well-being, cognitive engagement, and behavioral regulation. MSS has a long clinical history in dementia care…

Olfactory Display(also: Olfactory Interface, Olfactory Feedback, Smell Display)

An olfactory display is a hardware system that delivers controlled scent stimuli to a user, typically as part of a virtual reality, augmented reality, or multisensory interaction system. Designs range from desk-mounted vapour generators to head-mounted, hand-held, and neck-worn…

Perfect Pitch(also: Absolute Pitch, AP)

The innate ability to identify or reproduce musical pitches without the aid of a reference note. People with perfect pitch can recognize and name any musical note by its pitch alone. For blind and low vision musicians, perfect pitch can be a significant advantage, serving as a…

Phantom Sensation(also: Phantom Vibration, Vibrotactile Illusion)

A phantom sensation is a perceptual illusion in which two vibrotactile actuators stimulating the skin simultaneously create the feeling of a single vibration at a point between them. By varying the amplitude and frequency of each actuator, the perceived location of the phantom…

Sensory Adaptation(also: Habituation, Olfactory Fatigue)

Sensory adaptation is the diminishing response of a sensory system to a constant or repeated stimulus over time. Classic examples include no longer noticing a steady smell, becoming accustomed to ambient noise, or losing awareness of clothing pressed against the skin. In…

Sensory Disability(also: Sensory Impairment)

A disability that affects one or more of the senses — most commonly vision and hearing, but also including touch, taste, and smell. Sensory disabilities encompass conditions such as blindness, low vision, deafness, hard of hearing, and deafblindness. In digital accessibility,…

Sensory Processing Sensitivity(also: SPS, Sensory Processing Differences)

Sensory Processing Sensitivity refers to differences in how an individual perceives, filters, and responds to sensory input across modalities such as vision, sound, touch, taste, and proprioception. It is commonly elevated in autistic people, but also occurs in people with ADHD,…

Sensory Sensitivity(also: Sensory Sensitivities, Hyper-/Hyposensitivity)

Heightened or reduced responses to sensory input including sounds, lights, textures, tastes, and smells. Sensory sensitivity is common among autistic people, with approximately 74% experiencing atypical sensory processing. Hypersensitivity (over-responsiveness) may cause…

Shutdown(also: Autistic Shutdown)

A response to overwhelming sensory, emotional, or cognitive input in which an autistic person withdraws or retreats from their environment. Unlike meltdowns (which are outward expressions of distress), shutdowns involve a reduction in communication, interaction, and…

Somatosensory(also: Somatosensation, Bodily Sensation)

Relating to the sensory system that processes touch, pressure, temperature, pain, and body position (proprioception). The somatosensory system is crucial for accessibility technologies that bypass vision or hearing, including Braille reading, tactile graphics, vibrotactile…

Synaesthesia(also: Synesthesia)

Synaesthesia is a perceptual phenomenon in which a stimulus in one sensory modality automatically and involuntarily triggers an additional experience in a different modality or sub-modality - for example, seeing specific colours when hearing musical notes (chromesthesia),…

Tactile Stimulation(also: Tactile Feedback, Cutaneous Stimulation)

Tactile stimulation refers to the use of physical sensations delivered to the skin to convey information, typically through vibrations, pin arrays, textures, or pressure changes. In assistive technology, tactile stimulation is fundamental to braille displays, haptic interfaces,…

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…

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