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• "Why are there so many steps?": Improving Access to Blind and Low Vision Music Learning through Personal Adaptations and Future Design Ideas

  Leon Lu, Karen Anne Cochrane, Jin Kang, Audrey Girouard · 2023 · ACM Transactions on Accessible Computing

  This study investigates the challenges blind and low vision (BLV) people face when learning music and identifies personal adaptations and design opportunities for assistive technologies. The researchers conducted one-hour semi-structured interviews with 40 participants across…

  blind · low vision · music learning · music pedagogy · braille music

• The Accessibility of Data Visualizations on the Web for Screen Reader Users: Practices and Experiences During COVID-19

  Danyang Fan, Alexa Fay Siu, Hrishikesh Rao, Gene Sung-Ho Kim, Xavier Vazquez, Lucy Greco, Sile O'Modhrain, Sean Follmer · 2023 · ACM Transactions on Accessible Computing

  This comprehensive mixed-methods study examines data visualization accessibility through three complementary investigations: an accessibility audit of 87 COVID-19 visualizations, an online survey of 127 screen reader users, and contextual inquiry with 12 participants. The…

  data visualization · screen readers · visual impairment · web accessibility · accessibility audit

• Digital Musical Instruments in Special Educational Needs Schools: Requirements from the Music Teachers' Perspective and the Status Quo in Germany

  Andreas Förster, Steffen Lepa · 2023 · ACM Transactions on Accessible Computing

  This study presents the first comprehensive survey of digital musical instrument (DMI) use in special educational needs (SEN) schools, covering 745 schools across 12 of Germany's 16 federal states with a 41.5% response rate. The researchers surveyed 750 music teachers to…

  digital musical instruments · music education · special education · cognitive disabilities · music accessibility

• Creating 'a Simple Conversation': Designing a Conversational User Interface to Improve the Experience of Accessing Support for Study

  Francisco Iniesto, Tim Coughlan, Kate Lister, Peter Devine, Nick Freear, Richard Greenwood, Wayne Holmes, Ian Kenny, Kevin McLeod, Ruth Tudor · 2023 · ACM Transactions on Accessible Computing

  This paper presents the ADMINS (Assistants for the Disclosure and Management of Information about Needs and Support) project, which developed a virtual assistant named "Taylor" to help students disclose disabilities and arrange support at The Open University (UK). The OU…

  conversational user interface · chatbot · virtual assistant · disability disclosure · higher education

• The Design and Prototyping of an App to Teach Adults with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities to Empower Them Against Abuse

  Krishna Venkatasubramanian, Tina-Marie Ranalli, Jack Lanoie, Alexander Sinapi, Andrew Laraw Lama, Jeanine Skorinko, Mariah Freark, Nancy Alterio · 2023 · ACM Transactions on Accessible Computing

  This paper presents the design and prototyping of "Recognize," a mobile app that empowers adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities (I/DD) to independently learn about abuse. The work addresses a critical problem: people with I/DD are sexually assaulted seven times…

  intellectual disability · developmental disability · abuse prevention · self-advocacy · co-design

• Machine Generation of Audio Description for Blind and Visually Impaired People

  Virgínia P. Campos, Tiago M. U. de Araújo, Guido L. de Souza Filho, Luiz M. G. Gonçalves · 2023 · ACM Transactions on Accessible Computing

  This paper presents an extension to CineAD, a system for automatically generating audio descriptions (AD) for videos. The authors address a critical accessibility gap: most videos, films, and cultural programming lack audio descriptions, leaving blind and visually impaired (BVI)…

  audio description · blind and visually impaired · computer vision · machine learning · video accessibility

• Guidelines for Designing Social Networking Sites for Older Adults: A Systematic Review with Thematic Synthesis

  Amira Ghenai, Philips Ayeni, Jing Yu, Robin Cohen, Karyn Moffatt · 2023 · ACM Transactions on Accessible Computing

  This systematic review synthesizes design recommendations for social networking sites (SNS) targeting older adults, addressing a critical gap: despite being the fastest-growing demographic on platforms like Facebook, older adults face numerous barriers to adoption and use. The…

  older adults · social networking · social media · systematic review · design guidelines

• Performance and Pleasure: Exploring the Perceived Usefulness and Appeal of Physical Activity Data Visualizations with Older Adults

  Dimitri Vargemidis, Kathrin Gerling, Vero Vanden Abeele, Luc Geurts · 2023 · ACM Transactions on Accessible Computing

  This mixed-methods study examines how older adults perceive and value different approaches to visualizing physical activity (PA) data from wearable activity trackers. The researchers combined semi-structured interviews (N=17) and an online survey (N=27) with 44 older adults…

  older adults · physical activity · data visualization · wearable technology · activity trackers

• Understanding the Usages, Lifecycle, and Opportunities of Screen Readers' Plugins

  Farhani Momotaz, Md Ehtesham-Ul-Haque, Syed Masum Billah · 2023 · ACM Transactions on Accessible Computing

  This study investigates why blind users rely on screen reader plugins and how these plugins are developed, distributed, and maintained. The researchers combined two methodological approaches: semi-structured interviews with 14 blind participants (ages 24-52, expert to beginner…

  screen readers · NVDA · JAWS · plugins · extensions

• How the Alt Text Gets Made: What Roles and Processes of Alt Text Creation Can Teach Us About Inclusive Imagery

  Emory James Edwards, Kyle Lewis Polster, Isabel Tuason, Emily Blank, Michael Gilbert, Stacy Branham · 2023 · ACM Transactions on Accessible Computing

  This paper investigates how alternative text is created in industry settings through a collaboration between UC Irvine researchers and Google's Avatar Project, an initiative to create inclusive stickers depicting people with disabilities. The research combines two studies: focus…

  alt text · image accessibility · inclusive imagery · disability representation · organizational practices

• AccessComics2: Understanding the User Experience of an Accessible Comic Book Reader for Blind People with Textual Sound Effects

  Yun Jung Lee, Hwayeon Joh, Suhyeon Yoo, Uran Oh · 2023 · ACM Transactions on Accessible Computing

  This research investigates how to make digital comic books accessible to people with visual impairments through AccessComics, a web-based comic reader that provides scene descriptions, synthesized character voices, and sound effects. The study addresses a gap in accessibility…

  comics · audiobooks · eBooks · screen readers · blind users

• Mathematical Content Browsing for Print-disabled Readers Based on Virtual-world Exploration and Audio-visual Sensory Substitution

  Rynhardt Kruger, Febe De Wet, Thomas Niesler · 2023 · ACM Transactions on Accessible Computing

  This research addresses a critical accessibility gap: mathematical equations in PDF documents are largely inaccessible to blind and visually impaired readers. While standards like MathML exist for encoding accessible mathematics, most scientific and technical papers are…

  mathematical accessibility · sensory substitution · PDF accessibility · blind users · sonification

• Tangible Progress: Tools, Techniques, and Impacts of Teaching Web Development to Screen Reader Users

  Claire Ferrari, Devorah Kletenik, Kate Sonka, Amy Hurst · 2023 · ACM Transactions on Accessible Computing

  This paper presents the design, implementation, and longitudinal evaluation of a free, remote web development workshop specifically designed for screen reader users. The nine-week workshop, delivered during the COVID-19 pandemic, taught HTML, CSS, and JavaScript to 12 blind…

  web development education · screen readers · tactile diagrams · blind users · service learning

• The Transparency of Automatic Web Accessibility Evaluation Tools: Design Criteria, State of the Art, and User Perception

  Marco Manca, Vanessa Palumbo, Fabio Paternò, Carmen Santoro · 2023 · ACM Transactions on Accessible Computing

  This paper investigates a critical but often overlooked problem in web accessibility practice: the lack of transparency in automated accessibility evaluation tools. While these tools are widely used to identify WCAG violations, users frequently struggle to understand why…

  automated testing · accessibility evaluation tools · WAVE · axe · Lighthouse

• Video Conferencing Tools: Comparative Study of the Experiences of Screen Reader Users and the Development of More Inclusive Design Guidelines

  Barbara Leporini, Marina Buzzi, Marion Hersh · 2023 · ACM Transactions on Accessible Computing

  This comprehensive study investigates the accessibility and usability of three major video conferencing platforms—Zoom, Google Meet, and Microsoft Teams—for blind and visually impaired people using screen readers. Conducted during the COVID-19 pandemic when video conferencing…

  video conferencing · screen readers · blind users · Zoom · Microsoft Teams

• Accuracy and Reliability of At-Home Quantification of Motor Impairments Using a Computer-Based Pointing Task with Children with Ataxia-Telangiectasia

  Vineet Pandey, Nergis C. Khan, Anoopum S. Gupta, Krzysztof Z. Gajos · 2023 · ACM Transactions on Accessible Computing

  This paper validates at-home, unsupervised use of Hevelius, a web-based active digital phenotyping system that quantifies motor impairment in the dominant arm through mouse pointing tasks. The study addresses a critical gap: while prior research showed that crowdsourced…

  motor impairment · digital phenotyping · remote assessment · ataxia · pointing tasks

• Enriching Social Sharing for the Dementia Community: Insights from In-Person and Online Social Programs

  Jiamin Dai, Karyn Moffatt · 2023 · ACM Transactions on Accessible Computing

  This paper presents a comparative study of in-person and virtual social programs for people with dementia, examining how the COVID-19 pandemic transformed community-based social engagement. The research centers on "Tales & Travels," a storytelling program hosted by the Westmount…

  dementia · cognitive accessibility · social computing · videoconferencing · caregivers

• It could be better. It could be much worse: Understanding Accessibility in User Experience Practice with Implications for Industry and Education

  Cynthia Putnam, Emma J. Rose, Craig M. MacDonald · 2023 · ACM Transactions on Accessible Computing

  This qualitative study examines how accessibility is understood and practiced within the UX profession through 58 interview sessions with 65 senior UX professionals conducted between 2017 and 2020. Using transitivity analysis from critical discourse analysis, the researchers…

  UX practice · design systems · accessibility education · industry practices · qualitative research

• WordMelodies: Supporting the Acquisition of Literacy Skills by Children with Visual Impairment through a Mobile App

  Dragan Ahmetovic, Cristian Bernareggi, Barbara Leporini, Sergio Mascetti · 2023 · ACM Transactions on Accessible Computing

  WordMelodies is a freely available mobile application designed to teach literacy skills to primary school children, with particular attention to accessibility for children with visual impairments or blindness (VIB). The app was developed through an iterative design process…

  visual impairment · literacy education · mobile apps · children · screen reader

• Never-ending Learning of User Interfaces

  Jason Wu, Rebecca Krosnick, Eldon Schoop, Amanda Swearngin, Jeffrey P. Bigham, Jeffrey Nichols · 2023 · Proceedings of the 36th Annual ACM Symposium on User Interface Software and Technology (UIST)

  This paper introduces the Never-ending UI Learner, an automated system that continuously crawls real mobile applications to learn semantic properties of user interfaces. The system addresses a fundamental limitation of current approaches to UI understanding: most machine…

  machine learning · mobile accessibility · UI semantics · automated crawling · tappability

• WebUI: A Dataset for Enhancing Visual UI Understanding with Web Semantics

  Jason Wu, Siyan Wang, Siman Shen, Yi-Hao Peng, Jeffrey Nichols, Jeffrey P. Bigham · 2023 · Proceedings of the 2023 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems

  This paper introduces WebUI, a large-scale dataset of approximately 400,000 web pages automatically crawled and paired with visual, semantic, and stylistic metadata extracted from the browser engine. The dataset addresses a critical bottleneck in UI understanding research:…

  machine learning · computer vision · UI modeling · web semantics · transfer learning

• Nonverbal Communication through Expressive Objects

  Stephanie Valencia, Mark Steidl, Michael L. Rivera, Cynthia L. Bennett, Jeffrey P. Bigham, Henny Admoni · 2023 · Communications of the ACM

  This paper explores how physical motion through an expressive object — a "sidekick" — can support nonverbal communication for augmented communicators (ACs) who use AAC devices. The work centres on Mark, a co-author with cerebral palsy who has used AAC for over 19 years and…

  AAC · augmentative and alternative communication · cerebral palsy · nonverbal communication · co-design

• From User Perceptions to Technical Improvement: Enabling People Who Stutter to Better Use Speech Recognition

  Colin Lea, Zifang Huang, Jaya Narain, Lauren Tooley, Dianna Yee, Dung Tien Tran, Panayiotis Georgiou, Jeffrey P. Bigham, Leah Findlater · 2023 · Proceedings of the 2023 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI '23)

  This paper investigates how people who stutter (PWS) experience consumer speech recognition systems and demonstrates technical improvements that can significantly reduce errors. The work combines user research with engineering interventions across the speech recognition…

  stuttering · speech recognition · voice assistants · dictation · speech accessibility

• Enhancing Blind Visitor's Autonomy in a Science Museum Using an Autonomous Navigation Robot

  Seita Kayukawa, Daisuke Sato, Masayuki Murata, Tatsuya Ishihara, Hironobu Takagi, Shigeo Morishima, Chieko Asakawa · 2023 · Proceedings of the 2023 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems

  Museums have historically struggled to offer blind visitors the same self-directed, exploratory experience that sighted visitors take for granted. Prior solutions — tactile tours, audio guides, or pre-fixed navigation routes — either require a human escort or constrain visitors…

  blind navigation · autonomous navigation robot · museum accessibility · visual impairment · indoor navigation

• PathFinder: Designing a Map-less Navigation System for Blind People in Unfamiliar Buildings

  Masaki Kuribayashi, Tatsuya Ishihara, Daisuke Sato, Jayakorn Vongkulbhisal, Karnik Ram, Seita Kayukawa, Hironobu Takagi, Shigeo Morishima, Chieko Asakawa · 2023 · Proceedings of the 2023 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems

  Map-based indoor navigation systems for blind travellers (CaBot, NavCog, BLE-beacon apps) work well when a prebuilt map exists, but building and maintaining those maps is labour-intensive and has only been done for a tiny fraction of the world's buildings. Engel et al. reported…

  map-less navigation · blind navigation · indoor navigation · intersection detection · sign recognition