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• Feel-It: Personalized Audio-Tactile Web Browsing

  Anatoliy Borodin, Yevgen Borodin, Andrii Soviak, Vikas Ashok, Shirin Disfani, I. V. Ramakrishnan · 2019 · Proceedings of the 16th International Web for All Conference (W4A)

  This demonstration paper presents Feel-It, a hardware-software system for audio-tactile web browsing that enables blind users to explore the two-dimensional spatial layout of web pages through touch. The core problem addressed is that screen readers reduce web pages to a…

  blindness · haptic feedback · tactile display · web browsing · screen reader

• GuideCall: Affordable and Trustworthy Video Call-Based Remote Assistance for People with Visual Impairments

  Naveen M. Ravindran, Seyed Ali Cheraghi, Vinod Namboodiri, Rakesh Babu · 2019 · Proceedings of the 16th International Web for All Conference (W4A)

  This demonstration paper presents GuideCall, a free Android application that enables blind or visually impaired (BVI) individuals to get remote visual assistance through video calls with trusted personal contacts. The system addresses two key limitations of existing remote…

  visual impairment · blindness · remote assistance · video calling · assistive technology

• Web Development Training for Students That Are Blind

  Claire Ferrari · 2019 · Proceedings of the 16th International Web for All Conference (W4A)

  This doctoral consortium paper outlines a mixed-methods dissertation research plan for developing and evaluating a 10-day web development course specifically designed for students who are blind or have low vision. The author contextualizes the work within the employment…

  STEM accessibility · blindness · low vision · web development · coding education

• Synesthesia Vision integration with Recife's Public Transport

  Aida A. Ferreira, Gilmar Brito, Lydia Nascimento da Silva, João Victor Mouzinho, Ryan Morais, Jonathan Romualdo Pereira · 2019 · Proceedings of the 16th International Web for All Conference (W4A)

  This demonstration paper presents Synesthesia Vision, a two-component assistive technology system for blind people in Recife, Brazil, and its integration with the metropolitan public transport monitoring system. The system consists of sensory glasses (3D-printed frames…

  visual impairment · blindness · public transportation · smart city · obstacle detection

• An Independent and Interactive Museum Experience for Blind People

  Saki Asakawa, João Guerreiro, Daisuke Sato, Hironobu Takagi, Dragan Ahmetovic, Desi Gonzalez, Kris M. Kitani, Chieko Asakawa · 2019 · Proceedings of the 16th International Web for All Conference (W4A)

  This paper presents a prototype system for supporting independent, interactive museum visits by blind people, deployed and evaluated at The Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh. The system combines indoor navigation with context-aware art appreciation through continuous tracking of…

  museum accessibility · blindness · indoor navigation · BLE beacon · audio description

• Demonstration of GestureCalc: An Eyes-Free Calculator for Touch Screens

  Leah Perlmutter, Bindita Chaudhuri, Justin Petelka, Philip Garrison, James Fogarty, Jacob O. Wobbrock, Richard E. Ladner · 2019 · Proceedings of the 21st International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS)

  This demonstration paper presents GestureCalc, an eyes-free, target-less digital calculator for touch screen devices that replaces traditional button-based input with intuitive gesture-based input. The core problem is that existing calculator apps require precise tapping on…

  gesture-based interaction · touchscreen accessibility · blindness · visual impairment · screen reader

• Typing Slowly but Screen-Free: Exploring Navigation over Entirely Auditory Keyboards

  Reeti Mathur, Aishwarya Sheth, Parimal Vyas, Davide Bolchini · 2019 · Proceedings of the 21st International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS)

  This paper introduces the concept of "keyflows" — entirely auditory keyboards that operate without a reference screen, enabling blind users to type while untethered from their mobile device. The core problem is that current accessible keyboards require blind users to constantly…

  text entry · blindness · visual impairment · screen reader · auditory interface

• GestureCalc: An Eyes-Free Calculator for Touch Screens

  Bindita Chaudhuri, Leah Perlmutter, Justin Petelka, Philip Garrison, James Fogarty, Jacob O. Wobbrock, Richard E. Ladner · 2019 · Proceedings of the 21st International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS)

  This full research paper presents GestureCalc, an eyes-free, target-less gesture-based calculator for touch screens, along with a rigorous three-session longitudinal evaluation with eight screen reader users. The system replaces the spatial button layout of conventional…

  gesture-based interaction · touchscreen accessibility · blindness · visual impairment · screen reader

• A Wearable Input Mechanism for Blind Users of Computers Based on Mental Mapping of Thumb-To-Phalanx Distances

  Yash Naik · 2019 · Proceedings of the 21st International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS 2019)

  This student research abstract presents Mentalitype, a glove-based wearable keyboard designed to provide blind users with an affordable and portable text input mechanism for computer-based tasks. The system maps 32 push-buttons to the phalanges (finger bones) of both hands, with…

  blindness · wearable technology · text input · assistive technology · alternative keyboards

• Jido: A Conversational Tactile Map for Blind People

  Luis Cavazos Quero, Jorge Iranzo Bartolomé, Dongmyeong Lee, Yerin Lee, Sangwon Lee, Jundong Cho · 2019 · Proceedings of the 21st International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS 2019)

  This demonstration paper presents Jido, a system that combines a touch-sensitive tactile map with a voice-based conversational agent to help blind people understand and navigate indoor environments. The tactile map is constructed from laser-cut acrylic sheets mounted on a case…

  blindness · tactile maps · voice interaction · indoor navigation · conversational interface

• Go That Way: Exploring Supplementary Physical Movements by a Stationary Robot When Providing Navigation Instructions

  Xiang Zhi Tan, Elizabeth J. Carter, Samantha Reig, Aaron Steinfeld · 2019 · Proceedings of the 21st International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS 2019)

  This paper explores how stationary kiosk-type robots might provide navigation instructions to blind people by supplementing verbal directions with physical movements. The work is inspired by a technique used by Orientation and Mobility (O&M) experts called Palm Drawing, in which…

  blindness · human-robot interaction · navigation · haptic feedback · orientation and mobility

• The Design Space of Nonvisual Word Completion

  Hugo Nicolau, Andre Rodrigues, Andre Santos, Tiago Guerreiro, Kyle Montague, Joao Guerreiro · 2019 · Proceedings of the 21st International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS 2019)

  This paper presents the first design space for nonvisual word completion on mobile devices, addressing a gap where word completion interfaces — ubiquitous in sighted mobile typing — remain poorly designed for screen reader users. While sighted users can glance at three…

  blindness · text entry · mobile accessibility · screen readers · word prediction

• Closing the Gap: Designing for the Last-Few-Meters Wayfinding Problem for People with Visual Impairments

  Manaswi Saha, Alexander J. Fiannaca, Melanie Kneisel, Edward Cutrell, Meredith Ringel Morris · 2019 · Proceedings of the 21st International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS 2019)

  This paper comprehensively investigates the last-few-meters wayfinding problem — the gap between where GPS navigation ends (within approximately 5 meters of a destination) and where a person with visual impairment actually needs to arrive (the specific door, entrance, or…

  blindness · wayfinding · navigation · GPS · computer vision

• StateLens: A Reverse Engineering Solution for Making Existing Dynamic Touchscreens Accessible

  Anhong Guo, Junhan Kong, Michael Rivera, Frank F. Xu, Jeffrey P. Bigham · 2019 · ACM Symposium on User Interface Software and Technology

  This paper presents StateLens, a three-part system that makes existing dynamic touchscreen interfaces accessible to blind users without requiring any modification to the touchscreen hardware or software. Blind people routinely encounter inaccessible touchscreens on coffee…

  touchscreen accessibility · blindness · computer vision · crowdsourcing · reverse engineering

• "It's almost like they're trying to hide it": How User-Provided Image Descriptions Have Failed to Make Twitter Accessible

  Cole Gleason, Patrick Carrington, Cameron Cassidy, Meredith Ringel Morris, Kris M. Kitani, Jeffrey P. Bigham · 2019 · The World Wide Web Conference

  This paper presents the first large-scale empirical study of how Twitter's opt-in image description feature (launched in 2016) has affected the accessibility of images on the platform. The researchers analyzed 1.09 million tweets with images collected over five days in June…

  alternative text · social media accessibility · image accessibility · blindness · screen readers

• Airport Accessibility and Navigation Assistance for People with Visual Impairments

  João Guerreiro, Dragan Ahmetovic, Daisuke Sato, Kris Kitani, Chieko Asakawa · 2019 · Proceedings of the 2019 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems

  This paper investigates whether a BLE-beacon-based smartphone navigation system can enable visually impaired travelers to move through an airport independently — a setting where they are currently required to rely on airline-provided sighted escorts to reach the gate, and where…

  airport accessibility · blind navigation · indoor navigation · orientation and mobility · visual impairment

• WeAllWalk: An Annotated Dataset of Inertial Sensor Time Series from Blind Walkers

  Germán H. Flores, Roberto Manduchi · 2018 · ACM Transactions on Accessible Computing (TACCESS)

  This paper introduces WeAllWalk, an annotated dataset of inertial sensor time series collected from blind and sighted walkers navigating complex indoor routes. Ten blind volunteers (seven using a long cane, one using a guide dog, and two alternating between both) and five…

  indoor navigation · blindness · inertial sensing · step counting · turn detection

• Visually Augmented Audio-Tactile Graphics for Visually Impaired People

  Timo Götzelmann · 2018 · ACM Transactions on Accessible Computing (TACCESS)

  This paper presents a novel system for creating visually augmented audio-tactile graphics using 3D printing and standard tablet computers, designed for people with visual impairments including those with residual vision. Traditional tactile graphics (raised-line drawings on…

  tactile graphics · 3D printing · audio-tactile · visual augmentation · low vision

• Maritime Buoyage on 3D-Printed Tactile Maps

  Mathieu Simonnet, Serge Morvan, Dominique Marques, Olivier Ducruix, Arnaud Grancher, Sylvie Kerouedan · 2018 · Proceedings of the 20th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS '18)

  This demonstration paper presents work from the Brest Bay Touch project to create 3D-printed maritime maps accessible to people with visual impairments, with a particular focus on representing sea marks (buoys, lighthouses, and other navigational aids) as tactile symbols. The…

  3D printing · tactile maps · visual impairment · spatial cognition · maritime accessibility

• Turn Right: Analysis of Rotation Errors in Turn-by-Turn Navigation for Individuals with Visual Impairments

  Dragan Ahmetovic, Uran Oh, Sergio Mascetti, Chieko Asakawa · 2018 · Proceedings of the 20th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS '18)

  This paper examines a frequently overlooked problem in navigation assistance for blind and visually impaired (BVI) people: how accurately users execute rotation instructions during turn-by-turn guidance. While much research has focused on improving localization accuracy (knowing…

  navigation · blindness · orientation and mobility · indoor navigation · assistive technology

• Investigating Cursor-based Interactions to Support Non-Visual Exploration in the Real World

  Anhong Guo, Saige McVea, Xu Wang, Patrick Clary, Ken Goldman, Yang Li, Yu Zhong, Jeffrey P. Bigham · 2018 · Proceedings of the 20th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS 2018)

  This paper from Google and Carnegie Mellon University defines and compares three cursor-based interaction techniques designed to help blind and low vision people attend to specific items within complex real-world visual scenes. While computer vision systems like Seeing AI and…

  blindness · low vision · computer vision · non-visual exploration · mobile accessibility

• Understanding the Power of Control in Autonomous Vehicles for People with Vision Impairment

  Robin N. Brewer, Vaishnav Kameswaran · 2018 · Proceedings of the 20th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS 2018)

  This University of Michigan study investigates how people with vision impairments perceive control in semi-autonomous versus fully autonomous vehicles, a distinction previous research had not explored. The researchers conducted design-based focus groups with 15 participants…

  blindness · low vision · autonomous vehicles · accessible transportation · independence

• Exploring Aural and Haptic Feedback for Visually Impaired People on a Track: A Wizard of Oz Study

  Kyle Rector, Rachel Bartlett, Sean Mullan · 2018 · Proceedings of the 20th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS 2018)

  This University of Iowa study investigates how to make outdoor jogging tracks accessible to people who are blind or have low vision, addressing a gap in exercise accessibility research. Standard 400-meter tracks rely entirely on visual lane markings, and the overwhelming…

  blindness · low vision · exercise accessibility · navigation · haptic technology

• BrowseWithMe: An Online Clothes Shopping Assistant for People with Visual Impairments

  Abigale J. Stangl, Esha Kothari, Suyog D. Jain, Tom Yeh, Kristen Grauman, Danna Gurari · 2018 · Proceedings of the 20th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS 2018)

  This paper from the University of Colorado Boulder and University of Texas at Austin addresses the inaccessibility of online clothes shopping for people with visual impairments through both empirical investigation and a prototype AI-powered assistant called BrowseWithMe. The…

  blindness · low vision · web accessibility · online shopping · computer vision

• Understanding Authentication Method Use on Mobile Devices by People with Vision Impairment

  Daniella Briotto Faustino, Audrey Girouard · 2018 · Proceedings of the 20th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS 2018)

  This Carleton University study presents the largest survey to date on how people with vision impairments use passwords and authentication methods on mobile devices. The researchers collected responses from 325 participants (225 blind, 100 low vision) across 12 countries,…

  blindness · low vision · mobile accessibility · authentication · security