Glossary

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3D Printing Pen(also: 3D Pen)

A handheld device that extrudes a quick-cooling thermoplastic filament (commonly PLA, PCL, or ABS) through a heated nozzle, leaving raised, three-dimensional lines that solidify within seconds of being drawn. In accessibility contexts, 3D pens have become a cheap and widely…

Bimanual Exploration(also: Two-handed exploration, Bimanual tactile exploration)

The use of both hands in coordinated roles to perceive an object or space by touch. In blind and low-vision users, bimanual exploration is typically asymmetric: one hand (often the non-dominant) serves as a spatial anchor holding a frame of reference while the other hand (often…

Board Game Accessibility(also: Tabletop Game Accessibility)

The practice of making physical board games, card games, and tabletop games playable by people with disabilities. Most commercial board games rely heavily on visual information — printed text, colors, visual textures, and spatial layouts — making them inaccessible to blind and…

Braille Cell(also: Braille Character, Six-Dot Cell)

The fundamental unit of the Braille writing system, consisting of a rectangular arrangement of up to six raised dots in a 3x2 matrix (three rows, two columns). Each dot position is numbered 1-6, with dots 1-3 in the left column (top to bottom) and dots 4-6 in the right column.…

Conductive Filament(also: Conductive 3D printing filament, Conductive PLA)

A specialized 3D printing material that conducts electricity, enabling printed objects to interact with capacitive touchscreens. In accessibility applications, conductive filament can be embedded in otherwise non-conductive 3D printed objects — such as tactile maps or overlays —…

Detectable Warnings(also: Detectable Warning Surfaces, Tactile Warning Surfaces)

Detectable warnings are standardised tactile surface features installed on walking surfaces to alert people with visual impairments to hazards or transitions — most commonly the edge of a transit platform, the bottom of a curb ramp, or the junction between pedestrian and…

Digital Embroidery(also: Computerised Embroidery, Machine Embroidery)

Fabrication of stitched patterns on fabric using a computer-controlled embroidery machine that reads a digitised design file (e.g., DST, EXP) and drives a needle to produce precise, repeatable stitches. In accessibility work, digital embroidery is used to build tactile textile…

Dynamic Tactile Graphics(also: Interactive Tactile Graphics, Animated Tactile Graphics)

Tactile representations of visual information that can change, move, or respond to user interaction in real time, as opposed to traditional static tactile graphics which are fixed once produced. Dynamic tactile graphics can be created through shape displays with movable pins,…

Electromagnetic Actuation(also: EM Actuation)

A method of producing physical movement using electromagnetic fields generated by electric coils. In accessibility contexts, electromagnetic actuation is used to move tactile elements — such as magnetic markers or braille pins — to create dynamic tactile displays and interfaces…

Embosser(also: Braille Embosser, Tactile Graphics Embosser)

A device that creates raised (embossed) output on paper or other materials, used to produce braille text and tactile graphics for people who are blind or have low vision. Braille embossers function similarly to printers but press dots upward into heavy paper to create tactile…

Exploratory Procedures(also: EPs)

Exploratory procedures are stereotyped movement patterns that people use when examining objects through touch to identify specific properties. Defined by Lederman and Klatzky in tactile perception research, these are hand and finger configurations that do not correspond to…

Force Feedback(also: Haptic Force Feedback, Kinesthetic Feedback)

A type of haptic technology that applies physical forces to the user through a device such as a stylus, joystick, or glove, simulating the sensation of touching or interacting with virtual objects. Unlike vibrotactile feedback which only provides vibrations, force feedback can…

Haptic Exploration(also: Tactile Exploration, Touch Exploration)

The process of acquiring spatial and object information through systematic touch and hand movements. Haptic exploration involves active manipulation and movement across surfaces to perceive shape, size, texture, temperature, and spatial relationships. For people who are blind or…

Haptic Virtual Reality(also: Haptic VR, Feelable Virtual Environment)

Haptic virtual reality refers to virtual environments that incorporate touch-based feedback, allowing users to feel virtual textures, shapes, and objects through force-feedback devices. Unlike visual-only VR, haptic VR provides tactile and kinaesthetic information — resistance,…

Monarch(also: Monarch Tactile Display, Dynamic Tactile Device)

The Monarch is a multi-line refreshable tactile display developed by HumanWare and the American Printing House for the Blind, representing a significant advancement in tactile display technology. Unlike traditional single-line refreshable Braille displays that show only one row…

Multi-Fidelity Modeling(also: Multi-Fidelity Tactile Materials)

A design strategy that provides tactile representations at multiple levels of detail and complexity to support layered learning and comprehension. In accessible museum and educational contexts, this means offering simplified low-fidelity models (like 2D silhouettes or outline…

Multimodal Map(also: Audio-Tactile Map, Interactive Tactile Map)

A map that conveys spatial information through multiple sensory channels simultaneously, typically combining tactile elements with audio output and sometimes visual or haptic feedback. Multimodal maps are designed to make geographic and spatial information accessible to people…

Pantograph(also: Haptic Pantograph)

A haptic input device that allows users to explore a two-dimensional surface by physically moving a stylus or finger pad across an exploration area, while receiving tactile feedback from an attached tactile display. In accessibility applications, the pantograph enables people…

QR Code(also: Quick Response Code)

A two-dimensional barcode that encodes information such as text, URLs, or other data in a square matrix of black and white modules. In accessibility contexts, QR codes serve as a bridge between physical objects and digital information — they can be placed on tactile graphics to…

Raised Line Drawing(also: Raised Line Graphic, Tactile Line Drawing, Swell Paper Drawing)

A graphic representation in which lines and shapes are physically raised above the surface of paper or another substrate so they can be perceived by touch. Raised line drawings are a fundamental tool for making visual information accessible to blind and low-vision users,…

Shape Display(also: 2.5D Shape Display, Pin Display, Tactile Shape Display)

A physical computing device consisting of a grid of motorised pins that can be raised and lowered to create dynamic tactile relief surfaces. Shape displays render digital 3D content as physical topographies that users can explore by touch, providing real-time haptic feedback…

Skin Stretch Display(also: Skin Stretch, Lateral Skin Deformation Display, STReSS)

A type of haptic display technology that produces tactile feedback by laterally stretching the skin of the user's fingertip, rather than using raised pins or vibration. Skin stretch displays typically use arrays of small actuators (such as piezoelectric bending motors) that…

Tactile Accuracy

Tactile accuracy is an evaluation criterion for measuring how well a person perceives the shape information of an object in a tactile image through touch. Unlike "naming accuracy" (whether someone can name the object), tactile accuracy captures whether the person has obtained…

Tactile Art(also: Touch Art, Haptic Art)

Pictures, illustrations, sculptures, and multimodal compositions that are created to be accessible through the sense of touch, either crafted intentionally for touch-focused experiences or made accessible through tactile or haptic properties. Tactile art is distinguished from…

Tactile Drawing(also: Tactile Picture Making)

The process of creating raised-line images that can be perceived through touch rather than vision. Tactile drawing can be done by blind or sighted people using methods such as drawing on swell paper with a thermo pen to produce immediately raised lines, using a stylus on plastic…

Tactile Exhibit(also: Touch Exhibit, Hands-On Exhibit, Tactile Display)

A museum or gallery exhibit designed to be explored through touch rather than sight, allowing visitors to physically interact with objects, models, or replicas. Tactile exhibits are particularly important for accessibility as they enable blind and low-vision visitors to…

Tactile Exploration Strategy(also: Haptic Exploration Strategy, Touch Exploration Pattern)

A systematic approach or pattern that a person uses when exploring tactile graphics, maps, or other touch-based representations. Research has identified several distinct strategies: "following outlines" (tracing the borders of shapes), "saccade" (jumping between specific zones),…

Tactile Fidelity

The degree of detail and accuracy in a tactile representation compared to the real object or concept it represents. High-fidelity tactile models include fine details, textures, and proportional accuracy, while low-fidelity models use simplified shapes and reduced detail to…

Tactile Graphicacy(also: Tactile Literacy, Tactile Reading Skills)

The learned ability to read, interpret, and create meaning from tactile images, maps, diagrams, and graphics through touch. Just as visual graphicacy is developed through exposure to visual images, tactile graphicacy requires practice with a wide range of tactile materials and…

Tactile Icon(also: Tactile Symbol, 3D Icon, Raised Icon)

A small raised or three-dimensional symbol placed on a tactile map or diagram that represents a real-world object, location, or concept through touch. Tactile icons can be abstract (geometric shapes requiring a legend) or representational (physically resembling the object they…

Tactile Image(also: Tactile Graphic, Tactile Picture, Touch Image)

A tactile image is a raised or textured representation of a visual image designed to be perceived through touch rather than sight. Tactile images can be produced through various methods including embossing, swell paper (microcapsule paper), Braille printers, thermoforming, and…

Tactile Image Exploration(also: Tactile Graphics Exploration, Haptic Image Exploration)

Tactile image exploration is the process by which blind or visually impaired users perceive and interpret graphical content through touch, typically by moving their fingers across raised-line drawings, embossed diagrams, or haptic displays. Unlike visual perception, which allows…

Tactile Imaging(also: Tactile Image, Tactile Image Conversion, Visual-to-Tactile Conversion)

The process of converting visual images into tactile representations that can be perceived through touch, enabling blind and visually impaired users to access graphical information. Tactile imaging involves simplifying complex visual content into raised patterns, textures, or…

Tactile Learning(also: Haptic Learning, Touch-Based Learning)

An educational approach that uses the sense of touch to convey information, explore concepts, and develop understanding. For blind and low vision learners, tactile learning encompasses reading Braille, exploring raised-line diagrams, manipulating physical models, and using…

Tactile Literacy(also: Tactile Reading Skills)

The ability to interpret, understand, and create information conveyed through the sense of touch, including the skills needed to read tactile graphics, maps, diagrams, braille, and other raised representations. Like visual literacy, tactile literacy must be developed…

Tactile Overlay(also: Touch Overlay, Tactile Screen Overlay)

A physical sheet or frame placed on top of a touchscreen or flat surface that provides raised tactile landmarks, borders, buttons, and contextual information for users who are blind or have low vision. Tactile overlays can be made from laser-cut cardboard, 3D printed materials,…

Tactile Perception(also: Cutaneous Perception, Touch Perception)

Tactile perception is the process of perceiving and interpreting information through the sense of touch, encompassing both cutaneous perception (sensing through the skin in a stationary process, detecting texture, pressure, vibration, temperature, and pain) and haptic perception…

Tactile Printer(also: Braille Embosser, Tactile Embosser)

A device that produces raised-line graphics and text on paper or other media, enabling people who are blind or have low vision to access visual information through touch. Tactile printers work by embossing dots or lines onto heavy paper, or by using thermal processes with…

Tactile Rendering

The process of converting visual or spatial information into a tactile format that can be perceived through touch by blind or visually impaired users. Tactile rendering involves decisions about how to represent 3D objects, spatial relationships, depth, and visual attributes…

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,…

Tadoma(also: Tadoma Method)

A tactile method of communication used by individuals who are deafblind, in which the receiver places their hand on the speaker's face — thumb lightly on the lips and fingers along the jawline and cheek — to feel the movements of speech including lip movements, vibrations, and…

Tatreez(also: Palestinian Cross-Stitch, Palestinian Embroidery)

A traditional Palestinian cross-stitch embroidery practice, inscribed on the UNESCO Representative List of Intangible Cultural Heritage in 2021, in which motifs encode regional identity, family history, and social status through colour and geometric pattern. In accessibility…

Thermal Embosser(also: Thermal Swell Paper Printer)

A device that produces tactile graphics by heating speciality swell paper (also called microcapsule paper) to raise areas printed with dark ink or toner. The microcapsules embedded in the paper expand when exposed to heat, creating a raised surface that can be felt by touch.…

Thermo Pen(also: Thermal Pen, Heat Pen)

A specialized drawing instrument that produces heat at its tip, used in conjunction with swell paper (microcapsule paper) to create instant raised-line tactile graphics. When the thermo pen is drawn across swell paper, the heat causes the microcapsules in the paper to expand…

Thermoform(also: Vacuum-Formed Plastic, Thermoform Duplicator)

A method of producing tactile images and braille copies by heating a thin sheet of plastic and vacuum-forming it over a master copy (typically an embossed original) to create a durable raised-line reproduction. Thermoform machines heat plastic sheets and use vacuum pressure to…

Thermotactile Feedback(also: Thermal Feedback, Thermal Haptic Feedback, Thermotactile Display)

Thermotactile feedback is a form of haptic communication that conveys information through controlled temperature changes on the skin, using heating or cooling elements such as Peltier thermoelectric modules. In accessibility, thermotactile feedback offers an alternative to…

Touch Panel(also: Touch Tablet, Touch-Sensitive Panel, Digitizer Tablet)

A flat, pressure-sensitive input surface that detects the position of a finger or stylus when it makes contact. Unlike touchscreens, which combine display and input on the same surface, a touch panel is a separate input device placed over or alongside a display. In…

Touchpad(also: Touch Tablet, Touch-Sensitive Pad)

A flat, pressure-sensitive input device that detects the position of a finger or stylus on its surface. In assistive technology contexts, touchpads are used as interactive overlays for tactile graphics and maps, enabling users who are blind to place a tactile printout on the pad…

Virtual Texture(also: Simulated Texture, Haptic Texture)

A virtual texture is a computer-generated tactile surface property rendered through a haptic device, simulating the feel of roughness, smoothness, or other surface characteristics without a physical material being present. Virtual textures are created by varying the resistance,…

Volumetric Symbol(also: 3D Symbol, Volumetric Icon)

A small three-dimensional object used on a tactile or audio-tactile map to represent a category of place or facility — for example, a distinct shape for a restroom, elevator, information desk, or exhibition entrance. Research on tactile cartography has shown that blind map users…

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