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• A Haptic ATM Interface to Assist Visually Impaired Users

  Brendan Cassidy, Gilbert Cockton, Lynne Coventry · 2013 · Proceedings of the 15th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS)

  This paper presents the design and evaluation of a haptic interface for ATM keypads that conveys directional information to visually impaired users without relying on audio or visual output. Current ATM accessibility primarily uses audio lead-through via headphones, which has…

  visual impairment · haptic feedback · ATM accessibility · vibro-tactile · deafblind

• Designing for Individuals: Usable Touch-Screen Interaction through Shared User Models

  Kyle Montague, Vicki L. Hanson, Andy Cobley · 2012 · Proceedings of the 14th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS)

  This paper introduces the Shared User Modelling (SUM) Framework, a system that collects touch interaction data during normal application use to build a user model that can be shared across multiple applications and devices via web services. Unlike traditional accessibility…

  touch screen accessibility · adaptive interface · user model · mobile accessibility · visual impairment

• Automated Description Generation for Indoor Floor Maps

  Devi A. Paladugu, Hima Bindu Maguluri, Qiongjie Tian, Baoxin Li · 2012 · Proceedings of the 14th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS 2012)

  This demonstration paper presents a prototype system that automatically generates verbal descriptions of indoor floor maps to support navigation for people with visual impairments. The system addresses a practical gap: while tools like canes, guide dogs, and GPS devices help…

  visual impairment · indoor navigation · wayfinding · image processing · floor plans

• Evaluation of Dynamic Image Pre-Compensation for Computer Users with Severe Refractive Error

  Jian Huang, Armando Barreto, Malek Adjouadi · 2012 · Proceedings of the 14th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS 2012)

  This paper presents a dynamic image pre-compensation method designed to improve computer accessibility for users with severe refractive errors such as high-degree myopia, hyperopia, and astigmatism. Refractive error affects over 30.5 million Americans aged 40 and older, and…

  low vision · refractive error · image enhancement · visual impairment · eye tracking

• EZ Ballot with Multimodal Inputs and Outputs

  Seunghyun Lee, Xiao Xiong, Liu Elaine Yilin, Jon Sanford · 2012 · Proceedings of the 14th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS 2012)

  This demonstration paper presents the EZ Ballot, a prototype accessible voting system that fundamentally reconceptualizes ballot design to provide an equal voting experience for all voters regardless of ability. Current accessible voting machines add accessibility features on…

  accessible voting · multimodal interface · cognitive accessibility · visual impairment · dexterity

• Non-Visual-Cueing-Based Sensing and Understanding of Nearby Entities in Aided Navigation

  Juan Diego Gomez, Guido Bologna, Thierry Pun · 2012 · Proceedings of the 14th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS 2012)

  This demonstration paper presents a context-aware navigation aid system for blind individuals that combines three levels of assistance to enhance understanding of the surrounding environment. The system addresses a fundamental challenge: blind people navigating unfamiliar…

  visual impairment · blind navigation · context-aware computing · computer vision · spatial audio

• Specialized DVD Player to Render Audio Description and Its Usability Performance

  Claude Chapdelaine · 2012 · Proceedings of the 14th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS 2012)

  This demonstration paper presents the CRIM DVDPlayer, a specialized software DVD player designed to enhance the audio description (AD) experience for blind and visually impaired (BVI) individuals. Developed at the Centre de Recherche Informatique de Montréal (CRIM), the player…

  audio description · visual impairment · blind users · multimedia accessibility · DVD

• FEPS: A Sensory Substitution System for the Blind to Perceive Facial Expressions

  Md. Iftekhar Tanveer, A.S.M. Iftekhar Anam, A.K.M Mahbubur Rahman, Sreya Ghosh, Mohammed Yeasin · 2012 · Proceedings of the 14th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS 2012)

  This demonstration paper presents FEPS (Facial Expression Perception through Sound), a visual-to-auditory sensory substitution system that enables blind individuals to perceive their conversation partner's facial expressions through sound. The inability to perceive facial…

  visual impairment · blind users · sensory substitution · sonification · facial expression recognition

• Helping Visually Impaired Users Properly Aim a Camera

  Marynel Vázquez, Aaron Steinfeld · 2012 · Proceedings of the 14th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS 2012)

  This paper evaluates three interaction modes for helping visually impaired users aim a camera to achieve good photo composition: speech-based feedback (spoken directional words like "up", "down", "left", "right" with pitch indicating proximity), tone-based feedback (a looping…

  visual impairment · blind users · low vision · photography · camera aiming

• Smartphone Application for Indoor Scene Localization

  Nabeel Younus Khan, Brendan McCane · 2012 · Proceedings of the 14th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS 2012)

  This demonstration paper presents a smartphone-based assistive technology that uses computer vision to determine a blind user's location inside a building where GPS is ineffective. The system operates on a client-server model running on an Android HTC Wildfire S phone. It…

  visual impairment · blind navigation · indoor localization · computer vision · smartphone

• Learning Non-Visual Graphical Information Using a Touch-Based Vibro-Audio Interface

  Nicholas A. Giudice, Hari Prasath Palani, Eric Brenner, Kevin M. Kramer · 2012 · Proceedings of the 14th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS 2012)

  This paper evaluates a vibro-audio interface on a commercial Samsung Galaxy tablet that provides non-visual access to graphical information through synchronized vibration and audio feedback triggered by touch exploration. When users trace their finger over on-screen visual…

  visual impairment · blind users · tactile graphics · haptic feedback · vibro-audio interface

• Prediction of Web Page Accessibility Based on Structural and Textual Features

  Sina Bahram, Debadeep Sen, Robert St. Amant · 2011 · Proceedings of the International Cross-Disciplinary Conference on Web Accessibility (W4A)

  This paper from NC State University explores whether machine learning classifiers can predict the accessibility of web pages based on structural and textual features of their DOM — features that are independent of explicit accessibility markup like alt text or ARIA attributes.…

  machine learning · accessibility evaluation · automated testing · visual impairment · web accessibility

• Identifying Behavioral Strategies of Visually Impaired Users to Improve Access to Web Content

  Darren Lunn, Simon Harper, Sean Bechhofer · 2011 · ACM Transactions on Accessible Computing

  This paper presents a methodology for identifying how visually impaired screen reader users develop coping strategies when encountering inaccessible web content, then uses those strategies to inform the design of transcoding solutions. The researchers conducted observational…

  screen readers · web accessibility · transcoding · coping strategies · user behavior

• The Interplay Between Web Aesthetics and Accessibility

  Grace Mbipom, Simon Harper · 2011 · Proceedings of the 13th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS 2011)

  This paper investigates whether the commonly held belief that visually attractive websites are inherently inaccessible holds true. The research was conducted in two studies. In Study 1, 30 sighted web users rated 50 homepages (drawn from Alexa top UK sites and Webby Award…

  web accessibility · visual design · user experience · accessibility evaluation · heuristic evaluation

• Audio Access to Calendars

  Andy Brown, Caroline Jay, Simon Harper · 2010 · Proceedings of the 2010 International Cross Disciplinary Conference on Web Accessibility (W4A)

  This paper addresses a specific but widespread accessibility problem: pop-up calendar date pickers on the web are effectively unusable by people with visual impairments. These JavaScript widgets dynamically insert tabular calendar content into the page when a date field receives…

  visual impairment · screen readers · dynamic content · Web 2.0 · date picker

• Interactive SIGHT into Information Graphics

  Seniz Demir, David Oliver, Edward Schwartz, Stephanie Elzer, Sandra Carberry, Kathleen F. McCoy · 2010 · Proceedings of the 2010 International Cross Disciplinary Conference on Web Accessibility (W4A)

  This paper presents Interactive SIGHT (Summarizing Information GrapHics Textually), a system that provides visually impaired users with access to the high-level knowledge conveyed by bar charts in electronic documents. Unlike approaches that simply reproduce the graphic in…

  visual impairment · data visualization · natural language generation · graph accessibility · bar charts

• Social accessibility: the challenge of improving web accessibility through collaboration

  Daisuke Sato, Masatomo Kobayashi, Hironobu Takagi, Chieko Asakawa · 2010 · Proceedings of the 2010 International Cross Disciplinary Conference on Web Accessibility (W4A)

  This paper presents Social Accessibility, a collaborative project from IBM Research Tokyo that enlists volunteers to fix web accessibility problems reported by visually impaired users. The system works through a three-step process: blind users encounter and report accessibility…

  crowdsourcing · screen readers · alternative text · visual impairment · social computing

• 3D HapticWebBrowser: towards universal web navigation for the visually impaired

  Nikolaos Kaklanis, Konstantinos Votis, Konstantinos Moustakas, Dimitrios Tzovaras · 2010 · Proceedings of the 2010 International Cross Disciplinary Conference on Web Accessibility (W4A)

  This paper presents the 3D HapticWebBrowser, a free open-source web browser that uses haptic (touch feedback) technology to enable visually impaired users to navigate web pages and explore 2D maps. The system transforms HTML elements into "hapgets" — haptically-enhanced 3D…

  haptic technology · visual impairment · blindness · multimodal interaction · accessible maps

• Describing online videos with text-to-speech narration

  Masatomo Kobayashi, Tohru Nagano, Kentarou Fukuda, Hironobu Takagi · 2010 · Proceedings of the 2010 International Cross Disciplinary Conference on Web Accessibility (W4A)

  This paper from IBM Research Tokyo presents a technology platform that uses text-to-speech (TTS) synthesis to add audio descriptions (AD) to online videos at minimal cost. The system addresses the two main barriers that prevent most online video creators from providing audio…

  audio description · text-to-speech · video accessibility · speech synthesis · external metadata

• Modelling web navigation with the user in mind

  Ruslan Fayzrakhmanov, Max Göbel, Wolfgang Holzinger, Bernhard Krüpl, Andreas Mager, Robert Baumgartner · 2010 · Proceedings of the 2010 International Cross Disciplinary Conference on Web Accessibility (W4A)

  This paper introduces the ABBA (Advanced Barrier-free Browser Accessibility) framework, a novel approach to screen reader design that replaces traditional sequential DOM-based navigation with a multi-axial navigation model. The core insight is that current screen readers force…

  screen readers · web navigation · visual impairment · semantic web · ontology

• TextSL: a screen reader accessible interface for second life

  Bugra Oktay, Eelke Folmer · 2010 · Proceedings of the 2010 International Cross Disciplinary Conference on Web Accessibility (W4A)

  This paper presents TextSL, a text-based command interface for Second Life that enables visually impaired users to explore and interact with the virtual world using a screen reader (JAWS). Inspired by multi-user dungeon (MUD) text adventure games like Zork — the predecessors of…

  virtual worlds · screen readers · visual impairment · blindness · text-based interface

• Universal Design of Auditory Graphs: A Comparison of Sonification Mappings for Visually Impaired and Sighted Listeners

  Bruce N. Walker, Lisa M. Mauney · 2010 · ACM Transactions on Accessible Computing

  This study investigates whether auditory graphs—using sound to represent data for people who cannot see visual graphs—can be designed universally for both sighted and visually impaired users, or whether different sonification mappings are needed for different populations. Most…

  sonification · auditory display · data visualization · blind users · visual impairment

• Detecting Objects and Obstacles for Visually Impaired Individuals Using Visual Saliency

  Benoît Deville, Guido Bologna, Thierry Pun · 2010 · Proceedings of the 12th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS 2010)

  This demo paper presents the detection module of See ColOr (Seeing Colors with an Orchestra), a mobility aid for visually impaired people developed at the University of Geneva. See ColOr transforms visual information from the environment into musical instrument sounds — a…

  visual impairment · obstacle detection · mobility aid · computer vision · sensory substitution

• Leveraging Proprioception to Make Mobile Phones More Accessible to Users with Visual Impairments

  Frank Chun Yat Li, David Dearman, Khai N. Truong · 2010 · Proceedings of the 12th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS 2010)

  This paper extends Virtual Shelves — an interaction technique that leverages proprioception (the sense of body position and movement) to provide eyes-free access to mobile phone shortcuts — for users with visual impairments. The core concept is elegant: users hold their phone in…

  visual impairment · proprioception · mobile accessibility · interaction techniques · eyes-free interaction

• Sasayaki: An Augmented Voice-Based Web Browsing Experience

  Shaojian Zhu, Daisuke Sato, Hironobu Takagi, Chieko Asakawa · 2010 · Proceedings of the 12th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS 2010)

  This paper introduces Sasayaki (meaning "whisper" in Japanese), an intelligent voice-based agent designed to augment voice browser navigation for users with visual impairments. The authors, from IBM Research Tokyo and UMBC, identify two key problems with voice-based web…

  web accessibility · screen reader · voice browser · visual impairment · contextual support