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• Deaf and Hard of Hearing Access to Intelligent Personal Assistants: Comparison of Voice-Based Options with an LLM-Powered Touch Interface

  Paige S DeVries, Michaela Okosi, Ming Li, Nora Dunphy, Gidey Gezae, Dante Conway, Abraham Glasser, Raja Kushalnagar, Christian Vogler · 2026 · Proceedings of the 2026 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI '26)

  This mixed-methods study compares three input methods for Deaf and Hard of Hearing (DHH) people who use their voice to interact with an Amazon Echo Show: (1) natural deaf-accented speech via Alexa's built-in ASR, (2) Wizard-of-Oz 'facilitated English' where a trained human…

  deaf and hard of hearing · voice assistant · intelligent personal assistant · automatic speech recognition · deaf-accented speech

• Challenges in Automatic Speech Recognition for Adults with Cognitive Impairment

  Michelle Cohn, Alyssa Lanzi, Yui Ishihara, Chen-Nee Chuah, Georgia Zellou, Alyssa Weakley · 2026 · Proceedings of the 2026 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI '26)

  This CHI 2026 paper quantifies how well state-of-the-art automatic speech recognition (ASR) handles voice commands produced by older adults with cognitive impairment, and asks which acoustic features actually predict transcription accuracy. The authors draw on the Voice…

  automatic speech recognition · ASR · dementia · Alzheimer's disease · mild cognitive impairment

• Accessible Technology for Adults with Down Syndrome: A Scoping Review

  Hailey L. Johnson, Bilge Mutlu · 2025 · ACM Transactions on Accessible Computing

  This scoping review synthesizes 20 peer-reviewed publications examining digital technologies designed and used by adults with Down syndrome (AwDS), defined as individuals aged 18 and older. The authors followed PRISMA-ScR guidelines, searching six academic databases (ACM Digital…

  Down syndrome · intellectual disability · cognitive accessibility · assistive technology · scoping review

• Ability + Motivation: Understanding Factors that Influence People with Cognitive Disabilities in Regularly Practicing Daily Activities

  Varsha Koushik, Shaun Kane · 2023 · Proceedings of the 20th International Web for All Conference (W4A)

  This paper investigates the factors that influence people with cognitive disabilities in regularly practicing daily activities, focusing on the interplay between ability and motivation. The researchers conducted 90-minute remote participatory design interviews with 13…

  cognitive accessibility · cognitive disabilities · daily living activities · prompting systems · smart home

• Personalized Wearable Interactions with WearSkill

  Ovidiu-Andrei Schipor, Laura-Bianca Bilius, Ovidiu-Ciprian Ungurean, Alexandru-Ionut Siean, Alexandru-Tudor Andrei, Radu-Daniel Vatavu · 2022 · Proceedings of the 19th International Web for All Conference (W4A)

  This extended abstract presents WearSkill, a web-based middleware application that enables people with upper-body motor impairments to control connected smart home devices through personalised wearable interactions. The system addresses a significant gap: most wearable devices…

  wearable technology · motor impairment · personalization · smart home · gesture input

• Freedom to Choose: Understanding Input Modality Preferences of People with Upper-body Motor Impairments for Activities of Daily Living

  Franklin Mingzhe Li, Michael Xieyang Liu, Yang Zhang, Patrick Carrington · 2022 · Proceedings of the 24th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS '22)

  This paper investigates how people with upper-body motor impairments currently perform Activities of Daily Living (ADLs) and what input modalities they would prefer for technology-assisted independence. ADLs encompass basic tasks like bathing, dressing, grooming, toileting, and…

  motor impairment · multimodal input · activities of daily living · assistive technology · personal care assistants

• Understanding Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing Users' Interest in Sign-Language Interaction with Personal-Assistant Devices

  Abraham Glasser, Vaishnavi Mande, Matt Huenerfauth · 2021 · Proceedings of the 18th International Web for All Conference (W4A '21)

  This mixed-methods study investigates Deaf and Hard of Hearing (DHH) users' experiences with and interest in personal-assistant devices (such as Amazon Alexa and Google Home) that could understand American Sign Language (ASL) commands. The research was motivated by the growing…

  deaf and hard of hearing · sign language · personal assistants · voice interface · smart home

• CareHub: Smart Screen VUI and Home Appliances Control for Older Adults

  Ningjing Sun · 2020 · Proceedings of the 22nd International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS 2020)

  This demonstration paper presents CareHub, a smart screen prototype that augments voice user interfaces (VUIs) with complementary visual output to help older adults control home appliances more effectively. The research was conducted at the Rhode Island School of Design and…

  voice user interface · older adults · smart home · aging in place · multimodal interaction

• Action Blocks: Making Mobile Technology Accessible for People with Cognitive Disabilities

  Lia Carrari, Rain Michaels, Ajit Narayanan, Lei Shi, Xiang Xiao · 2020 · Proceedings of the 22nd International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS)

  This demonstration paper presents Action Blocks, an Android application developed by Google that simplifies mobile device interactions for people with cognitive disabilities. The app allows users or their caregivers to create customizable one-tap buttons on the device home…

  cognitive accessibility · mobile accessibility · assistive technology · aging in place · augmentative and alternative communication

• Action Blocks: Making Mobile Technology Accessible for People with Cognitive Disabilities

  Lia Carrari, Rain Michaels, Ajit Narayanan, Lei Shi, Xiang Xiao · 2020 · Proceedings of the 22nd International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS 2020)

  This demonstration paper presents Action Blocks, a Google Android application designed to make mobile technology accessible to people with cognitive disabilities. The core problem the paper addresses is that modern smartphones require complex multi-step interactions — finding…

  cognitive accessibility · mobile accessibility · assistive technology · aging in place · augmentative and alternative communication

• Automated Class Discovery and One-Shot Interactions for Acoustic Activity Recognition

  Jason Wu, Chris Harrison, Jeffrey P. Bigham, Gierad Laput · 2020 · Proceedings of the 2020 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI '20)

  This paper presents Listen Learner, an end-to-end system for acoustic activity recognition that automatically discovers and learns to classify environmental sounds with minimal user effort. Traditional approaches to sound recognition face a tradeoff: custom models trained in a…

  acoustic activity recognition · smart home · machine learning · Internet of Things · context awareness

• Making Emergency Calls More Accessible to Older Adults Through a Hands-free Speech Interface in the House

  Michel Vacher, Frédéric Aman, Solange Rossato, François Portet, Benjamin Lecouteux · 2019 · ACM Transactions on Accessible Computing (TACCESS)

  This paper presents CirdoX, a hands-free voice user interface system designed to detect emergency calls for help from older adults living alone at home. Wearable personal emergency response (PER) systems — typically pendant buttons worn on the neck or wrist — are the mainstream…

  speech recognition · aging · emergency response · ambient assisted living · smart home

• Home Automation for an Independent Living: Investigating the Needs of Visually Impaired People

  Barbara Leporini, Marina Buzzi · 2018 · Proceedings of the 15th International Web for All Conference (W4A 2018)

  This paper investigates the habits, expectations, and unmet needs of visually impaired people regarding home automation and remote control systems through an online survey of 42 participants (32 totally blind, 10 low vision; ages 18-70+; 64.3% male) and face-to-face interviews…

  smart home · blind · visual impairment · Internet of Things · independent living

• A System for Controlling Assisted Living Environments Using Mobile Devices

  Paulo A. Condado, Fernando G. Lobo · 2015 · ASSETS '15: Proceedings of the 17th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers & Accessibility

  This paper presents EasyHouse, a smartphone-based home automation system designed to be accessible for people with motor disabilities while remaining usable by all family members. The system addresses a gap in the smart home market: most domotic (home automation) products target…

  home automation · smart home · motor disabilities · cerebral palsy · mobile accessibility

• A Unifying Notification System To Scale Up Assistive Services

  Charles Consel, Lucile Dupuy, Hélène Sauzéon · 2015 · ASSETS '15: Proceedings of the 17th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers & Accessibility

  This paper addresses a fundamental scalability problem in assistive technology for older adults: the "silo-based" approach where each assistive service (pill reminders, door monitors, activity trackers) implements its own notification system. When older adults need multiple…

  aging · assisted living · notification systems · cognitive accessibility · smart home

• Speech Interaction with Personal Assistive Robots Supporting Aging at Home for Individuals with Alzheimer's Disease

  Frank Rudzicz, Rosalie Wang, Momotaz Begum, Alex Mihailidis · 2015 · ACM Transactions on Accessible Computing (TACCESS)

  This study examines speech-based interaction between older adults with Alzheimer's disease (AD) and a mobile assistive robot called ED, designed to help with activities of daily living. The research addresses a critical healthcare challenge: many nations lack capacity to support…

  Alzheimer's disease · dementia · assistive robotics · speech recognition · aging in place

• Evaluation of a Context-Aware Voice Interface for Ambient Assisted Living: Qualitative User Study vs. Quantitative System Evaluation

  Michel Vacher, Sybille Caffiau, François Portet, Brigitte Meillon, Camille Roux, Elena Eluj, Benjamin Lecouteux, Pedro Chahuara · 2015 · ACM Transactions on Accessible Computing (TACCESS)

  This study evaluates Sweet-Home, a voice-controlled smart home system designed to help older adults and people with visual impairments maintain independence at home. The research was conducted in a realistic 30-square-meter smart apartment (Domus) equipped with 150 sensors, 7…

  ambient assisted living · voice interface · smart home · aging in place · visual impairment

• Verification of Daily Activities of Older Adults: A Simple, Non-Intrusive, Low-Cost Approach

  Loïc Caroux, Charles Consel, Lucile Dupuy, Hélène Sauzéon · 2014 · Proceedings of the 16th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers & Accessibility (ASSETS)

  This paper presents a sensor-based approach to verifying whether older adults perform their daily activities at home, with the goal of supporting aging in place and informing caregiver decisions. The key conceptual distinction is between activity verification and activity…

  aging · activities of daily living · activity recognition · smart home · sensors

• Disability, Age, and Informational Privacy Attitudes in Quality of Life Technology Applications: Results from a National Web Survey

  Scott Beach, Richard Schulz, Julie Downs, Judith Matthews, Bruce Barron, Katherine Seelman · 2009 · ACM Transactions on Accessible Computing

  This landmark study examines privacy attitudes toward assistive and health monitoring technologies among 1,518 U.S. adults, focusing on how disability and age influence willingness to share personal health information. Conducted under the NSF Quality of Life Technology…

  privacy · quality of life technology · smart home · aging · surveillance

• Designing Judicious Interactions for Cognitive Assistance: The Acts of Assistance Approach

  Jérémy Bauchet, Hélène Pigot, Sylvain Giroux, Dany Lussier-Desrochers, Yves Lachapelle, Mounir Mokhtari · 2009 · Proceedings of the 11th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (Assets '09)

  This paper presents Archipel, a cognitive orthosis developed at the DOMUS Laboratory at the University of Sherbrooke, Canada, designed to guide people with cognitive impairments through complex activities of daily living such as meal preparation. The system takes a two-pronged…

  cognitive assistance · intellectual disability · smart home · activities of daily living · pervasive computing

• Defining Virtualization Based System Abstractions for an Indoor Assistive Living for Elderly Care

  Nova Ahmed · 2009 · Proceedings of the 11th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (Assets '09)

  This short paper proposes a two-layer system architecture for monitoring and guiding elderly residents in an indoor assistive living centre using passive RFID technology. The system addresses the tension between providing adequate monitoring for safety and preserving residents'…

  aging · ambient assisted living · RFID · indoor positioning · privacy

• Data visualisation and data mining technology for supporting care for older people

  Nubia M. Gil, Nicolas A. Hine, John L. Arnott, Julienne Hanson, Richard G. Curry, Telmo Amaral, Dorota Osipovič · 2007 · Proceedings of the 9th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (Assets '07)

  This Assets '07 paper from a UK consortium (Dundee, UCL, Imperial College) reports on a telecare pilot study that instrumented the flats of older residents with a modest set of unobtrusive sensors — passive infrared motion detectors, pressure sensors, door contacts,…

  aging · older adults · independent living · telecare · ambient sensing

• DuckCall: Tackling the First Hundred Yards Problem

  Stephen Fickas, Craig Pataky, Zebin Chen · 2006 · Proceedings of the 8th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (Assets '06)

  This paper describes DuckCall, a TV-based reminder system designed to help people with traumatic brain injury (TBI) overcome the "first hundred yards problem" — the challenge of preparing for and getting to the first transit pick-up point for community travel. Background studies…

  cognitive disabilities · traumatic brain injury · social isolation · community navigation · transportation access

• What Help Do Older People Need? Constructing a Functional Design Space of Electronic Assistive Technology Applications

  Dennis Maciuszek, Johan Aberg, Nahid Shahmehri · 2005 · Proceedings of the 7th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (Assets '05)

  This paper constructs a functional design space for electronic assistive technology (EAT) applications aimed at frail older people, providing both users and designers with a common framework for choosing and producing relevant EAT. The researchers conducted a multi-site field…

  aging · assistive technology · design space · ageing in place · activities of daily living

• Designing a Cognitive Aid for the Home: A Case-Study Approach

  Jessica Paradise, Elizabeth D. Mynatt, Cliff Williams, John Goldthwaite · 2004 · Proceedings of the 6th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (Assets 04)

  This paper describes the design of a computational pacing aid for a woman ("C") with mild traumatic brain injury (TBI) who struggles with chronic tardiness during her morning routine at a residential program. The researchers from Georgia Tech and Drexel University used an…

  cognitive accessibility · traumatic brain injury · cognitive aid · smart home · independent living