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• 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

• Research to Market Transition of Mobile Assistive Technologies for People with Visual Impairments

  Sergio Mascetti, Dragan Ahmetovic, Cristian Bernareggi · 2019 · Proceedings of the 21st International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS 2019)

  This paper examines why so few mobile assistive technology research prototypes for people with visual impairments ever reach end users, and shares practical lessons from the authors’ experience developing and distributing three iOS apps through EveryWare Technologies, a…

  assistive technology · visual impairment · mobile accessibility · technology transfer · blind

• Leveraging Augmented Reality to Create Apps for People with Visual Disabilities: A Case Study in Indoor Navigation

  Chris Yoon, Ryan Louie, Jeremy Ryan, MinhKhang Vu, Hyegi Bang, William Derksen, Paul Ruvolo · 2019 · Proceedings of the 21st International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS 2019)

  This paper presents Clew, an iOS app that leverages Apple’s ARKit augmented reality framework to help people who are blind or visually impaired (B/VI) navigate indoor environments — a setting where GPS is unreliable (accuracy drops to ~5m+ indoors). Clew uses visual-inertial…

  augmented reality · indoor navigation · orientation and mobility · blind · low vision

• Perception and Adoption of Mobile Accessibility Features by Older Adults Experiencing Ability Changes

  Rachel L. Franz, Jacob O. Wobbrock, Yi Cheng, Leah Findlater · 2019 · Proceedings of the 21st International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS 2019)

  This paper presents the first empirical study exploring how older adults experiencing progressive ability changes perceive and adopt built-in mobile accessibility features on smartphones and tablets. The researchers conducted interviews with 14 older adults (aged 65-93, mean 77)…

  aging · older adults · mobile accessibility · ability-based design · accessibility features

• WatchOut: Obstacle Sonification for People with Visual Impairment or Blindness

  Giorgio Presti, Dragan Ahmetovic, Mattia Ducci, Cristian Bernareggi, Luca Ludovico, Adriano Baratè, Federico Avanzini, Sergio Mascetti · 2019 · Proceedings of the 21st International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS 2019)

  This paper presents WatchOut, a sonification technique that conveys real-time information about obstacle characteristics to people who are blind or visually impaired (BVI) through non-verbal sound, enabling them to avoid obstacles while walking. The white cane, the primary…

  sonification · obstacle avoidance · blind · low vision · computer vision

• DarkReader: Bridging the Gap Between Perception and Reality of Power Consumption in Smartphones for Blind Users

  Jian Xu, Syed Masum Billah, Roy Shilkrot, Aruna Balasubramanian · 2019 · Proceedings of the 21st International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS 2019)

  This paper presents DarkReader, a modified Android screen reader that truly turns off the smartphone screen while preserving full touchscreen interaction for blind users, saving 24-52% of power compared to the default TalkBack screen reader. The work addresses two problems blind…

  blind · screen readers · TalkBack · VoiceOver · Android

• Effects of Aging on Small Target Selection with Touch Input

  Afroza Sultana, Karyn Moffatt · 2019 · ACM Transactions on Accessible Computing

  This study provides a detailed analysis of age-related touch selection errors on small touchscreen devices, extending prior work on mouse and pen interaction to finger touch input. Twenty older adults (ages 67-81, M=73.3) and sixteen younger adults (ages 22-35, M=28.9) completed…

  older adults · aging · touchscreen · mobile accessibility · target selection

• The Current Status of Accessibility in Mobile Apps

  Shunguo Yan, P. G. Ramachandran · 2019 · ACM Transactions on Accessible Computing

  This large-scale empirical study evaluated the accessibility of 479 Android apps from Google Play across 23 business categories using IBM Mobile Accessibility Checker (MAC), an automated tool that maps accessibility rules to GUI widget categories. The study examined over 610,000…

  mobile accessibility · Android · automated testing · accessibility evaluation · GUI accessibility

• App Usage Predicts Cognitive Ability in Older Adults

  Mitchell L. Gordon, Leon Gatys, Carlos Guestrin, Jeffrey P. Bigham, Andrew Trister, Kayur Patel · 2019 · CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems

  This paper investigates how older adults use smartphones differently from younger adults and whether those differences can be explained by cognitive function. The researchers collected three months of iPhone usage data from 84 healthy older adults (aged 61-76), logging 494,641…

  older adults · cognitive decline · smartphone usage · mobile accessibility · digital biomarkers

• 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

• Application for the configuration and adaptation of the Android operating system for the visually impaired

  Bruna de Oliveira, Juliana Cristina Braga, Rafael J. Pezzuto Damaceno · 2018 · Proceedings of the 15th International Web for All Conference (W4A 2018)

  This short paper presents the design and preliminary evaluation of an Android application that allows people with visual impairments (PVI) to configure their device’s accessibility settings using voice commands, bypassing the paradoxical problem that activating accessibility…

  Android · visual impairment · blind · low vision · TalkBack

• Exploring Aural Navigation by Screenless Access

  Mikaylah Gross, Joe Dara, Christopher Meyer, Davide Bolchini · 2018 · Proceedings of the 15th International Web for All Conference (W4A 2018)

  This paper introduces screenless access, a paradigm for browsing aural information architectures using one-handed, in-air gestures recognised by an off-the-shelf Myo armband, freeing blind and visually impaired users from the constraint of holding and touching a smartphone…

  blind · visual impairment · gesture interaction · wearable technology · mobile accessibility

• Towards Accessible Conversations in a Mobile Context for People who are Deaf and Hard of Hearing

  Dhruv Jain, Rachel Franz, Leah Findlater, Jackson Cannon, Raja Kushalnagar, Jon Froehlich · 2018 · Proceedings of the 20th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS '18)

  This paper presents two studies examining the communication needs of deaf and hard of hearing (DHH) people in mobile contexts (walking, transit, recreational activities) and the potential for head-mounted display (HMD) captions to address those needs. Prior research on DHH…

  deaf and hard of hearing · real-time captioning · augmented reality · head-mounted display · mobile accessibility

• Help Kiosk: An Augmented Display System to Assist Older Adults to Learn How to Use Smart Phones

  Zachary Wilson, Helen Yin, Sayan Sarcar, Rock Leung, Joanna McGrenere · 2018 · Proceedings of the 20th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS '18)

  This demonstration paper presents Help Kiosk (HK), a system that uses a large 19-inch touchscreen display to temporarily augment a smartphone's small screen during learning episodes for older adults. The system addresses two converging trends: rapidly growing populations of…

  aging · mobile accessibility · digital literacy · learning · older adults

• Designing a Context Aware AAC Solution

  Conor McKillop · 2018 · Proceedings of the 20th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS '18)

  This student research competition paper explores the design of a context-aware AAC keyboard prototype that uses mobile device sensors — particularly GPS and Wi-Fi positioning — to suggest location-relevant phrases and categories for people with speech, language, and…

  augmentative and alternative communication · context awareness · word prediction · cerebral palsy · mobile accessibility

• Examining Image-Based Button Labeling for Accessibility in Android Apps through Large-Scale Analysis

  Anne Spencer Ross, Xiaoyi Zhang, James Fogarty, Jacob O. Wobbrock · 2018 · Proceedings of the 20th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS '18)

  This paper presents the first large-scale analysis of mobile app accessibility, focusing specifically on label-based accessibility barriers in image-based buttons across 5,753 free Android apps. The researchers analyzed three classes of interactive image-based buttons —…

  mobile accessibility · Android · screen readers · image labeling · large-scale analysis

• 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

• Why Is Gesture Typing Promising for Older Adults? Comparing Gesture and Tap Typing Behavior of Older with Young Adults

  Yu-Hao Lin, Suwen Zhu, Yu-Jung Ko, Wenzhe Cui, Xiaojun Bi · 2018 · Proceedings of the 20th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS 2018)

  This study from Stony Brook University investigates whether gesture typing (gliding a finger continuously across keys to spell words) is a viable alternative to traditional tap typing for older adults on smartphones. Text entry is one of the most significant barriers older…

  older adults · text entry · gesture typing · touchscreen accessibility · mobile accessibility

• 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

• "Siri Talks at You": An Empirical Investigation of Voice-Activated Personal Assistant (VAPA) Usage by Individuals Who Are Blind

  Ali Abdolrahmani, Ravi Kuber, Stacy M. Branham · 2018 · Proceedings of the 20th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS 2018)

  This UMBC and UC Irvine study is one of the first to examine how individuals who are blind use voice-activated personal assistants (VAPAs) like Siri, Amazon Echo, and Google Home, and what barriers they encounter. The researchers interviewed 14 legally-blind adults (ages 21-66,…

  blindness · voice interface · voice assistant · Siri · Amazon Echo

• MathMelodies 2: a Mobile Assistive Application for People with Visual Impairments Developed with React Native

  Niccolò Cantù, Mattia Ducci, Dragan Ahmetovic, Cristian Bernareggi, Sergio Mascetti · 2018 · Proceedings of the 20th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS 2018)

  This demo paper from the University of Milan and University of Turin reports on MathMelodies 2, a cross-platform math education app for blind and visually impaired (BVI) children in grades 1-5, developed using React Native. The original MathMelodies was iPad-only, developed in…

  blindness · low vision · mathematical accessibility · education · children

• Exploring an Ambiguous Technique for Eyes-Free Mobile Text Entry

  Dylan Gaines · 2018 · Proceedings of the 20th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS 2018)

  This student research competition paper from Michigan Technological University presents Tap123, an ambiguous eyes-free keyboard for mobile text entry that does not require users to tap specific keys. The system is motivated by the limitations of existing blind text entry…

  blindness · low vision · text entry · mobile accessibility · eyes-free interaction

• Variability in Reactions to Instructional Guidance during Smartphone-Based Assisted Navigation of Blind Users

  Eshed Ohn-Bar, João Guerreiro, Kris Kitani, Chieko Asakawa · 2018 · Proceedings of the ACM on Interactive, Mobile, Wearable and Ubiquitous Technologies (IMWUT)

  This paper takes a close, sensor-level look at something most indoor-navigation research glosses over: how differently individual blind users actually react to the same spoken instruction. The authors instrumented a smartphone-and-BLE-beacon turn-by-turn system (based on NavCog)…

  indoor navigation · turn-by-turn navigation · blindness · visual impairment · assistive technology

• Modeling Expertise in Assistive Navigation Interfaces for Blind People

  Eshed Ohn-Bar, João Guerreiro, Dragan Ahmetovic, Kris M. Kitani, Chieko Asakawa · 2018 · Proceedings of the 23rd International Conference on Intelligent User Interfaces (IUI)

  This short IUI paper asks a question most assistive-navigation research leaves unasked: what happens as a blind user becomes an expert on a route? Existing smartphone guidance apps deliver the same instruction set on a user's tenth trip down a corridor as on their first,…

  blind navigation · indoor navigation · turn-by-turn navigation · visual impairment · blindness

• Environmental Factors in Indoor Navigation Based on Real-World Trajectories of Blind Users

  Hernisa Kacorri, Eshed Ohn-Bar, Kris M. Kitani, Chieko Asakawa · 2018 · Proceedings of the 2018 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems

  This paper addresses a methodological blind spot in blind-navigation research: studies typically report localization accuracy and completion time, but say almost nothing about how the physical environment itself shapes where users go wrong. The authors argue that the same…

  indoor navigation · turn-by-turn navigation · blindness · visual impairment · assistive technology