Glossary

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Procedural Feedback System(also: Process-Oriented Guidance System)

An assistive technology paradigm that provides dynamic, step-by-step support throughout complex multi-step tasks rather than addressing isolated moments of need. Unlike traditional assistive tools that help with discrete actions (e.g., identifying a color or reading a label),…

Product Identification(also: Product Recognition)

The task of determining what a packaged or unpackaged product is from visual (or other sensory) input, at a level of detail useful to an end user: generic type (soup, cereal, shampoo), brand (Campbell's, Kellogg's, Dove), and variety or flavour (tomato vs. chicken noodle; 90%…

Proprioception(also: Proprioceptive Sense, Body Position Sense)

The body's ability to sense its own position, movement, and orientation in space without relying on vision. Proprioceptive information comes from sensory receptors in muscles, tendons, and joints that detect stretch, tension, and pressure. For people who are blind or have low…

Refreshable Graphics Display(also: Tactile Graphics Display, Dynamic Tactile Display)

A device that presents tactile graphics and diagrams through an array of pins that can be individually raised or lowered to create dynamic, changeable tactile patterns. Unlike static tactile graphics (embossed paper or thermoform), refreshable displays can show sequences of…

Robotic Guide Dog(also: Robot Guide Dog, Quadruped Guide Robot)

A mobile robot — typically a quadruped platform — designed to provide navigation and obstacle-avoidance support for blind and low-vision users, filling a role analogous to that of a trained guide dog. Research prototypes have explored handler interaction, leash-based coupling,…

SMILES(also: Simplified Molecular-Input Line-Entry System)

A text-based notation system that represents chemical molecular structures as short character strings, making them both machine-readable and human-readable. For accessibility, SMILES is significant because it provides a linear, non-visual way to represent chemical structural…

Semantic Scene Graph(also: SSG, scene graph)

A semantic scene graph is a structured data representation of a 3D or 2D environment that encodes objects, their properties (such as position, size, color, and audio characteristics), and the spatial and hierarchical relationships between them. In accessibility research,…

Sighted Assistance(also: Visual Interpreting, Remote Sighted Assistance)

Sighted assistance refers to services that connect blind or low-vision individuals with sighted people who can provide visual information on demand, typically through a live video call from a smartphone or smart glasses. Services like Be My Eyes (volunteer-based) and Aira…

Sighted Guide(also: Sighted Guide Technique, Human Guide)

A technique in which a sighted person assists a blind or low vision individual with navigation and orientation by serving as a visual reference and mobility aid. In physical settings, the blind person typically holds the guide's arm just above the elbow and walks a half-step…

Sighted Memory(also: Visual Memory, Sighted Recall)

A mental representation of a physical environment developed through past visual experience, used by people who lose their sight later in life to navigate and understand spaces they previously knew visually. People with acquired vision loss often rely on sighted memory to recall…

Social Distancing(also: Physical Distancing)

The practice of maintaining a minimum physical distance from other people to reduce the transmission of infectious diseases, widely adopted during the COVID-19 pandemic with recommended distances of at least 1 metre (WHO) or 6 feet (CDC). Social distancing presented unique…

Social Wayfinding(also: Social Navigation Assistance)

Social wayfinding refers to the capacity to perceive and navigate the dynamics of a social scene, not just its physical layout. It covers identifying who is present, where they are oriented, whether they are available for interaction, what they are doing, and how they are…

Spatial Memorization(also: Spatial Memory Strategy, Kitchen Layout Memory)

A compensatory strategy used by blind and low vision individuals to navigate and interact with environments by memorizing the spatial layout of objects, tools, and landmarks. In cooking, spatial memorization involves learning where ingredients, utensils, and appliances are…

Spatial Reasoning

The cognitive process of understanding where objects are, how they are oriented, and how they relate to each other in three-dimensional space. Spatial reasoning is central to tasks like assembling products, navigating environments, reading diagrams, and manipulating tools. Blind…

Spatialization(also: Spatialisation, Audio Spatialization, 3D Audio Spatialization)

The process of rendering a sound so that it appears to originate from a specific location in three-dimensional space around the listener. Spatialization typically combines head-related transfer functions (HRTFs) to model how ears filter sound by direction, binaural or ambisonic…

Tactile Authoring(also: Tactile Graphic Authoring, BLV Authoring)

The creation of tactile graphics — raised-line drawings, swell-paper images, or refreshable-display renderings — by or with blind and low-vision authors, rather than exclusively by sighted experts. Tactile authoring tools include moldable materials, 3D printing pens,…

Tactile Ballot(also: Tactile Voting Device, Tactile Template, Tactile Sleeve)

A physical overlay, sleeve, or template placed over a paper ballot that provides raised, cut-out, or braille markings aligned with ballot boxes so that blind and low-vision voters can locate candidate entries by touch and mark their choice independently. Tactile ballots have…

Tactile Learning(also: Haptic Learning, Touch-Based Learning)

An educational approach that uses the sense of touch to convey information, explore concepts, and develop understanding. For blind and low vision learners, tactile learning encompasses reading Braille, exploring raised-line diagrams, manipulating physical models, and using…

Tactile Literacy(also: Tactile Reading Skills)

The ability to interpret, understand, and create information conveyed through the sense of touch, including the skills needed to read tactile graphics, maps, diagrams, braille, and other raised representations. Like visual literacy, tactile literacy must be developed…

Tactile Modeling(also: Tactile Demonstration, Touch Demonstration)

A body movement teaching technique where a blind or low vision student explores and inspects a demonstrator's body position through touch, allowing them to understand poses, movements, and form that would typically be learned through visual observation. Unlike physical guidance…

Tactile Replica(also: 3D Replica, Touchable Replica, Haptic Replica)

A physical reproduction of an artwork or exhibit object, often created using 3D printing or traditional sculpting techniques, designed to be touched and explored by hand. Tactile replicas are a key accessibility strategy in museums and galleries for blind and low vision…

Tactile-First Strategy(also: Touch-Based Strategy, Tactile-First Approach)

An approach to completing tasks that prioritizes touch and physical sensation as the primary sensory channel for guidance, feedback, and assessment. In accessibility contexts, tactile-first strategies are developed by people with vision impairments to navigate tasks…

Teachable Object Recognition(also: Teachable Object Recognizer, TOR, Personalized Object Recognition)

A machine learning approach that allows users to train an object recognition system to identify their own personal items by providing a small number of training examples, typically photos or videos. This technology is particularly valuable for blind and low vision users who need…

Touch Reader(also: Tactile Reader, Tactile Graphics Reader)

A person who reads and interprets information through touch, particularly tactile graphics, raised line drawings, and braille. Touch readers include blind and low-vision individuals who access spatial and graphical information through tactile media rather than vision. The skill…

Vibro-Audio(also: Vibrotactile Audio, Vibro-Tactile)

Vibro-audio is a multimodal interaction technique that combines vibration feedback from a device's built-in motor with auditory cues to convey information non-visually. On touchscreen devices, vibro-audio enables users to explore graphical content through touch — the device…

Vibro-Audio Map(also: VAM, Vibro-Audio Display)

A multimodal map representation for touchscreen devices that combines vibrotactile feedback with synchronised audio cues to convey spatial information non-visually. Users explore the map by dragging a finger across the screen; when they cross a feature (a street, a room…

Video-to-Haptics(also: Video to Haptics, V2H)

A class of techniques that automatically generate haptic feedback (typically vibrotactile or force cues) from visual content in video, so that viewers feel sensations synchronised with what they see. Video-to-haptics offers a non-visual channel for conveying motion, impact, and…

Vista Space(also: Vista)

In Montello's classification of psychological spaces, a Vista is a far-field space that can be visually apprehended from a single vantage point without appreciable locomotion - a horizon view, a city skyline, a mountain panorama. Vista spaces matter to accessibility because they…

Visual Interpretation Services(also: VIS, Remote Sighted Assistance, Visual Assistance Services)

Visual interpretation services are technology platforms that connect blind and low vision users with sighted assistants (either human volunteers or paid professionals) who provide real-time visual descriptions through video calls or image sharing. Services like Aira and Be My…

Voice Vista

A free audio-based navigation application for blind and low-vision users that uses 3D spatial audio to announce nearby streets, intersections, points of interest, and set beacons as the user walks. Voice Vista is a community-maintained successor to Microsoft Soundscape, released…

Wearable Camera(also: Body-worn Camera, Head-mounted Camera, Egocentric Camera)

A camera worn on the body — typically mounted on glasses, a hat, or the chest — that captures images or video from the wearer's perspective (egocentric view). In assistive technology for blind and low vision users, wearable cameras coupled with computer vision can provide…