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• Talking Points: The Differential Impact of Real-Time Computer Generated Audio/Visual Feedback on Speech-Like & Non-Speech-Like Vocalizations in Low Functioning Children with ASD

  Joshua Hailpern, Karrie Karahalios, Laura DeThorne, James Halle · 2009 · Proceedings of the 11th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (Assets '09)

  This paper examines whether real-time computer feedback systems (CFS) can differentially impact speech-like versus non-speech-like vocalizations in low-functioning children with Autism Spectrum Disorder. The distinction matters because the goal of speech intervention is to…

  autism spectrum disorder · speech development · computer feedback system · vocalization · children

• Instant Tactile-Audio Map: Enabling Access to Digital Maps for People with Visual Impairment

  Zheshen Wang, Baoxin Li, Terri Hedgpeth, Teresa Haven · 2009 · Proceedings of the 11th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (Assets '09)

  This paper presents an automated system for converting standard digital map images into interactive tactile-audio maps that people who are blind can explore independently. The core problem addressed is that while online map services like Google Maps provide rich geographical…

  tactile maps · visual impairment · multimodal interaction · audio feedback · navigation

• Making Microsoft Excel Accessible: Multimodal Presentation of Charts

  Iyad Abu Doush, Enrico Pontelli, Dominic Simon, Tran Cao Son, Ou Ma · 2009 · Proceedings of the 11th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (Assets '09)

  This paper presents a system for making Microsoft Excel charts accessible to people with visual impairments through a combination of haptic force feedback and audio cues. The authors identify that while screen readers and specialised tools can handle tabular data in Excel, the…

  data visualization · haptic technology · sonification · visual impairment · charts

• Multimodal Trajectory Playback for Teaching Shape Information and Trajectories to Visually Impaired Computer Users

  Andrew Crossan, Stephen Brewster · 2008 · ACM Transactions on Accessible Computing (TACCESS)

  This research investigates how haptic (force-feedback) and audio trajectory playback can teach shapes and gestures to blind and visually impaired computer users. The fundamental challenge addressed is that spatial information—shapes, diagrams, graphs, maps—is difficult to convey…

  haptic technology · multimodal interaction · visual impairment · force feedback · tactile graphics

• CATPro: context-aware task prompting system with multiple modalities for individuals with cognitive impairments

  Wan Chih Chang · 2008 · Proceedings of the 10th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (Assets '08)

  This short paper presents CATPro (Context-Aware Task Prompting), a system designed to help individuals with cognitive impairments perform daily living and workplace tasks more independently. The system targets people with a range of conditions including traumatic brain injury,…

  cognitive disability · task prompting · context awareness · supported employment · ubiquitous computing

• Refreshable tactile graphics applied to schoolbook illustrations for students with visual impairment

  Grégory Petit, Aude Dufresne, Vincent Levesque, Vincent Hayward, Nicole Trudeau · 2008 · Proceedings of the 10th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (Assets '08)

  This paper presents research on making schoolbook illustrations accessible to students with visual impairments using a refreshable tactile display system. The system combines the STReSS2 (Stimulator of Tactile Receptors by Skin Stretch), a device that produces tactile feedback…

  tactile graphics · visual impairment · education · haptic technology · refreshable displays

• Personalization of User Interfaces for Browsing XML Content Using Transformations Built on End-User Requirements

  Benoît Encelle, Nadine Baptiste-Jessel · 2007 · Proceedings of the 2007 International Cross-Disciplinary Conference on Web Accessibility (W4A)

  This paper from IRIT at the University Paul Sabatier in Toulouse presents a model for generating personalized multimodal user interfaces for browsing XML content, driven by end-user requirements rather than developer-imposed defaults. The authors identify a core accessibility…

  personalization · multimodal interaction · user profiles · content adaptation · XML

• Web Browser Accessibility Using Open Source Software

  Željko Obrenović, Jacco van Ossenbruggen · 2007 · Proceedings of the 2007 International Cross-Disciplinary Conference on Web Accessibility (W4A)

  This paper presents AMICO:WEB, a middleware infrastructure designed to integrate open source and free software components into mainstream web browsers to improve accessibility. The authors from CWI Amsterdam identify a core problem: while the open source community has produced…

  open source · middleware · multimodal interaction · browser extensions · assistive technology

• Leveraging Rich Accessible Documents on the Web

  Rui Lopes, Luís Carriço · 2007 · Proceedings of the 2007 International Cross-Disciplinary Conference on Web Accessibility (W4A)

  This paper by Lopes and Carriço from the University of Lisbon presents a framework for producing rich accessible documents on the web that goes beyond the common approach of providing simplified alternate versions for disabled users. The authors argue that accessibility in 2007…

  document accessibility · content adaptation · user modeling · profile modeling · multimodal interaction

• Dual Educational Electronic Textbooks: The Starlight Platform

  Dimitris Grammenos, Anthony Savidis, Yannis Georgalis, Themistoklis Bourdenas, Constantine Stephanidis · 2007 · Proceedings of the 9th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (Assets '07)

  This paper from the Foundation for Research and Technology-Hellas (FORTH) in Crete, Greece presents Starlight, a software platform for creating and reading multimodal interactive electronic textbooks that provide a Dual User Interface — an interface concurrently accessible by…

  accessible publishing · electronic textbook · blind students · inclusive education · dual user interface

• Designing Auditory Displays to Facilitate Object Localization in Virtual Haptic 3D Environments

  Koen Crommentuijn, Fredrik Winberg · 2006 · Proceedings of the 8th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (Assets '06)

  This paper investigates five different auditory display designs to help blind users locate objects in a virtual haptic 3D environment explored with a PHANToM Desktop haptic device. While haptic devices give visually impaired users the ability to explore virtual 3D spaces by…

  auditory display · sonification · haptic feedback · virtual environment · blindness

• Multimodal User Input Patterns in a Non-Visual Context

  Xiaoyu Chen, Marilyn Tremaine · 2005 · Proceedings of the 7th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (Assets '05)

  This exploratory study from the New Jersey Institute of Technology investigates how users choose between speech and hand (touchpad) inputs when performing tasks in a non-visual interface. The research used AudioBrowser, a system that organizes information items into hierarchies…

  multimodal interaction · non-visual interaction · speech input · touchpad · visual impairment

• Zooming Interfaces! Enhancing the Performance of Eye Controlled Pointing Devices

  Richard Bates, Howell Istance · 2002 · Proceedings of the Fifth International ACM Conference on Assistive Technologies (Assets '02)

  This paper from De Montfort University quantifies the performance problems of eye-based pointing on standard graphical user interfaces and demonstrates that adding a zoom facility dramatically improves usability. The researchers identified three fundamental challenges with…

  eye tracking · pointing devices · assistive technology · motor disability · zoom interface

• Multimodal Feedback: Establishing a Performance Baseline for Improved Access by Individuals with Visual Impairments

  Holly S. Vitense, Julie A. Jacko, V. Kathlene Emery · 2002 · Proceedings of the Fifth International ACM Conference on Assistive Technologies (Assets 02)

  This study investigates how different combinations of auditory, haptic, and visual feedback affect the performance of fully sighted users during a complex direct manipulation task. The researchers designed the study as a baseline from which to later compare the performance of…

  multimodal interaction · haptic feedback · auditory feedback · visual impairment · workload measurement

• Auditory and Tactile Interfaces for Representing the Visual Effects on the Web

  Chieko Asakawa, Hironobu Takagi, Shuichi Ino, Tohru Ifukube · 2002 · Proceedings of the Fifth International ACM Conference on Assistive Technologies (Assets 02)

  This paper from IBM Japan and Hokkaido University explores how blind users can perceive the visual structure and emphasis effects of web pages through auditory and tactile interfaces. The researchers identified a critical gap: modern web pages increasingly use visual effects…

  sonification · tactile interface · blindness · web accessibility · nonvisual interaction

• Multimodal Virtual Reality Versus Printed Medium in Visualization for Blind People

  Wai Yu, Stephen Brewster · 2002 · Proceedings of the Fifth International ACM Conference on Assistive Technologies (Assets '02)

  This paper presents a comparative evaluation of two approaches for making bar chart data accessible to blind and visually impaired people: traditional raised tactile diagrams and a multimodal virtual reality system. The VR system combines a SensAble PHANToM force feedback device…

  data visualization · blindness and low vision · haptic technology · virtual reality · tactile graphics

• Head Pointing and Speech Control as a Hands-Free Interface to Desktop Computing

  Rainer Malkewitz · 1998 · Proceedings of the Third International ACM Conference on Assistive Technologies (Assets '98)

  This paper presents a hands-free computer interface that combines head pointing with speech control to enable users who cannot use a mouse and keyboard to operate standard WIMP-style graphical user interfaces. Developed at the Fraunhofer Institute in Germany, the system uses a…

  head tracking · speech recognition · hands-free interface · alternative input · motor disability

• Comparing Effects of Navigational Interface Modalities on Speaker Prosodics

  Julie Baca · 1998 · Proceedings of the Third International ACM Conference on Assistive Technologies (Assets '98)

  This paper investigates whether speech-only (displayless) interfaces impose a measurable cognitive burden on users compared to multimodal interfaces that include visual or tactile components. The research uses an innovative methodology: rather than relying on subjective workload…

  speech technology · cognitive load · non-visual interaction · navigation · prosody

• Expanded Interactions: Broadening Human-Centered Computing

  Richard A. Foulds, Arthur W. Joyce · 1998 · Proceedings of the Third International ACM Conference on Assistive Technologies (Assets '98)

  This paper reports on the preliminary results of an NSF-sponsored invitational workshop titled "Expanded Interaction: Broadening Human-Centered Computing," held at the Winterthur Museum and A.I. duPont Institute in Wilmington, Delaware in May 1997. Approximately 40 participants…

  human-centered computing · universal design · universal access · multimodal interaction · inclusive design

• Designing Interface Toolkit with Dynamic Selectable Modality

  Shiro Kawai, Hitoshi Aida, Tadao Saito · 1996 · Proceedings of the Second Annual ACM Conference on Assistive Technologies (Assets '96)

  This paper presents the Fruit (Flexible and Rearrangeable User Interface Toolkit) system, an architecture for building user interfaces that allow dynamic switching between interaction modalities at runtime. The authors argue that the rigid coupling between applications and…

  multimodal interaction · user interface design · assistive technology · abstract widgets · toolkit design

• Multimodal Input for Computer Access and Augmentative Communication

  Alice Smith, John Dunaway, Patrick Demasco, Denise Peischl · 1996 · Proceedings of the Second Annual ACM Conference on Assistive Technologies (Assets '96)

  This paper from the University of Delaware describes a research project exploring the integration of speech recognition with head-pointing as a multimodal input method for people with physical disabilities who cannot use standard keyboards and mice. The authors frame the problem…

  multimodal interaction · speech recognition · head pointing · augmentative and alternative communication · assistive technology

• Enhancing Scanning Input with Non-Speech Sounds

  Stephen A. Brewster, Veli-Pekka Raty, Atte Kortekangas · 1996 · Proceedings of the Second Annual ACM Conference on Assistive Technologies (Assets '96)

  This paper proposes adding structured non-speech sounds (earcons) to scanning input systems used by people with severe motor disabilities who can only operate a single switch. Scanning input works by sequentially highlighting items in a grid; the user presses their switch when…

  scanning input · earcons · sonification · auditory display · switch access

• The Intelligent Voice-Interactive Interface

  Christopher Schmandt, Eric A. Hulteen · 1982 · Proceedings of the 1982 Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI '82)

  Schmandt and Hulteen describe the 'Put That There' system built at MIT's Architecture Machine Group (the precursor to the Media Lab), one of the earliest working implementations of a conversational, multimodal human–computer interface. Seated in a chair ten feet from a…

  speech recognition · voice interface · multimodal interaction · gesture recognition · historical