Reviews

Search results

• From Selfie Stick to Virtual Cane: Enabling Blind Exploration through Mobile Virtual Reality

  Hao Tang, Hong Zhao, Xinpeng Liu, Zhenchao Xia, William Seiple, Zhigang Zhu · 2026 · Proceedings of the 2026 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI '26)

  Consumer VR is a visual-first medium, which in practice shuts out blind and low-vision (BLV) users. Tang and colleagues argue that existing accessible VR systems do help BLV users explore virtual environments (VEs), but they depend on head-mounted displays, external tracking…

  blind and low vision · virtual reality · mobile accessibility · orientation and mobility · white cane

• Lost in Instructions: Study of Blind Users' Experiences with DIY Manuals and AI-Rewritten Instructions for Assembly, Operation, and Troubleshooting of Tangible Products

  Monalika Padma Reddy, Aruna Balasubramanian, Jiawei Zhou, Xiaojun Bi, IV Ramakrishnan, Vikas Ashok · 2026 · Proceedings of the 2026 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI '26)

  Blind users increasingly reach for AI tools like Be My AI (Be My Eyes' GPT-4-powered assistant) and ChatGPT to interpret the printed and PDF product manuals that accompany consumer goods - flat-pack furniture, alarm clocks, timers, ring lights, smart thermostats. Prior…

  blind and low vision · generative AI · large language model · assistive technology · document accessibility

• Beyond Descriptions: A Generative Scene2Audio Framework for Blind and Low-Vision Users to Experience Vista Landscapes

  Chitralekha Gupta, Jing Peng, Ashwin Ram, Shreyas Sridhar, Christophe Jouffrais, Suranga Nanayakkara · 2026 · Proceedings of the 2026 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI '26)

  Scene description apps (Seeing AI, Be My AI, Envision) do a reasonable job of telling blind and low-vision (BLV) users what is in front of them, but they are built for utility - 'there is a chair'. They fail at the aesthetic, leisure, emotional experience of distant landscapes:…

  blind and low vision · sonification · spatial audio · generative AI · psychoacoustics

• Towards LLM-powered Assistive Drone for Blind and Low Vision Users

  Yize Wei, Ibnu Taimiyyah Bin Adam, Hanjun Wu, Moritz Messerschmidt, Wei Tsang Ooi, Christophe Jouffrais, Suranga Nanayakkara · 2026 · Proceedings of the 2026 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI '26)

  Wei and colleagues built and evaluated a voice-based assistive drone prototype for blind and low-vision (BLV) users that leverages GPT-4o in two stages: generating step-by-step Python drone-control code from natural-language commands, and interpreting images captured by the…

  blind and low vision · assistive technology · drone · LLM · large language models

• Are You Comfortable Sharing It?: Leveraging Image Obfuscation Techniques to Enhance Sharing Privacy for Blind and Visually Impaired Users

  Satabdi Das, Nahian Beente Firuj, Manjot Singh, Arshad Nasser, Khalad Hasan · 2026 · Proceedings of the 2026 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI '26)

  This CHI 2026 paper addresses a privacy gap in how blind and visually impaired (BVI) users share photos: because they cannot visually inspect what they capture, images routinely contain sensitive or inappropriate content (identifiable people, nudity, documents with credentials,…

  blind and low vision · privacy · image obfuscation · visual description services · user study

• "It's trained by non-disabled people": Evaluating How Image Quality Affects Product Captioning with Vision-Language Models

  Kapil Garg, Xinru Tang, Jimin Heo, Dwayne R. Morgan, Darren Gergle, Erik B. Sudderth, Anne Marie Piper · 2026 · Proceedings of the 2026 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI '26)

  Garg and colleagues investigate how well Vision-Language Models (VLMs) caption product images taken by blind and low-vision (BLV) people — a high-stakes everyday task that increasingly depends on tools like Be My AI, Microsoft Seeing AI, and general-purpose assistants such as…

  blind and low vision · vision-language models · image captioning · product identification · hallucinations

• ElectroGrasp: Electrotactile Aids for Visually Impaired Individuals in Anticipatory Planning and Control of Grasp

  Hechuan Zhang, Rufei Song, Ruoyan Liu, Shengsheng Jiang, Xiaohui Tan, Tianren Luo, Yulin Jin, Hongnan Lin, Teng Han, Feng Tian · 2026 · Proceedings of the 2026 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI '26)

  Sighted people pre-shape their hand before touching an object - a visually-driven anticipatory grasp plan that visually impaired (VI) users cannot form, leading to the characteristic 'double grip' (initial contact followed by compensatory regrasp) that is slower, less confident,…

  blind and low vision · electrotactile feedback · haptic technology · assistive technology · wearable technology

• AI That Moves With You: A Review of Interactive Technologies Powered by Large Foundation Models for Mobility Impairment

  Duosi Dai, Yuchong Zhang, Yong Ma, Danica Kragic · 2026 · Proceedings of the 2026 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI '26)

  This paper is a scoping review (PRISMA-ScR) of how large foundation models - LLMs, large vision models, and vision-language models - are being woven into interactive assistive technologies for people with mobility impairments, covering publications from January 2020 to May 2025.…

  foundation model · large language model · vision-language model · literature review · scoping review

• HapticLens: Interactive Vibrotactile Haptic Generation from Spatially Localized Video Motion

  Kevin John, Hasti Seifi · 2026 · Proceedings of the 2026 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI '26)

  HapticLens is an interactive method for generating single-actuator vibrotactile signals from arbitrary video content by letting a designer select a spatial region of interest and converting motion within that region into a vibration waveform in real time. The authors motivate…

  haptics · vibrotactile feedback · video-to-haptics · computer vision · multimodal interaction

• When Audio Is Enough: Design-Tradeoffs in Multi-Story MR Navigation

  Bilgehan Cagiltay, Selim Balcisoy · 2026 · Proceedings of the 2026 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI '26)

  This CHI '26 exploratory study asks when an augmented-reality navigation aid can rely on audio alone. The authors argue that visual-first MR interfaces impose extra cognitive load and attention tunneling in high-stakes, cognitively demanding settings (e.g., first responders,…

  mixed reality · audio augmented reality · spatial audio · indoor navigation · wayfinding

• AI4XR: AI in Extended Reality for 3D Scene Editing and Accessibility Design

  Junlong Chen · 2026 · Extended Abstracts of the 2026 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI EA '26) — Doctoral Consortium

  This CHI '26 Doctoral Consortium paper summarises Junlong Chen's PhD research at the University of Cambridge on integrating AI — specifically large language models (LLMs) and vision-language models (VLMs) — into extended reality (XR) workflows. The research covers two…

  extended reality · virtual reality · artificial intelligence · large language models · vision-language models

• Beyond Additive Design: An Empirical Taxonomy of Multimodal STEM Accessibility Systems

  Madjid Sadallah, Benoit Encelle · 2026 · Extended Abstracts of the 2026 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI EA '26)

  Sadallah and Encelle conduct a systematic review of 66 multimodal STEM accessibility systems for blind and visually impaired (BVI) users published between 2015 and 2025, drawn from the ACM Digital Library, IEEE Xplore, OpenAlex, PubMed, and Web of Science. Their central argument…

  STEM accessibility · multimodal interaction · cognitive load · sensory integration · blind and low vision

• The Perceptual Gap: Why We Need Accessible XAI for Assistive Technologies

  Shadab H. Choudhury · 2026 · Extended Abstracts of the 2026 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI EA '26)

  Choudhury (University of Maryland, Baltimore County) presents a position paper and targeted literature review arguing that explainable AI (XAI) — the body of methods that help users understand why a black-box model produced a particular output — is fundamentally inaccessible to…

  explainable AI · XAI · artificial intelligence · blind and low vision · deaf and hard of hearing

• Get In Touch with Your Seat: Accessible Seat Localization for Blind and Low Vision Travelers in Autonomous Shuttles

  Paul D. S. Fink, Justin R. Brown, Raina M. Movalia, Kyle J. James, Margaret E. Kastelein, Jacob Bond, Morgan E. Andrulis, Nicholas A. Giudice · 2026 · Extended Abstracts of the 2026 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI EA '26)

  Fink, Brown, Movalia, and colleagues (University of Maine VEMI Lab, Grand Valley State University, and General Motors Global Research and Development) tackle a segment of the autonomous-vehicle accessibility problem that has received little attention: helping a blind or…

  autonomous vehicles · blind and low vision · transportation accessibility · haptics · spatial audio

• TacChat: Exploring User Generation and Accessible Sharing via Tactile Graphics for the Blind and Visually Impaired

  Yuewen Zhang, Danning Li, Kexin Zhou, Pu Jiang, Jingyang Lyu, Kotaro Hara, Baoshui Chen, Shuai Gao, Yang Jiao · 2026 · Extended Abstracts of the 2026 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI EA '26)

  Zhang and colleagues (Tsinghua University, Singapore Management University, and Beijing School for the Blind) flip the usual framing of tactile-graphics research: rather than asking how blind and low-vision (BLV) people can better consume tactile images created by sighted…

  tactile graphics · refreshable tactile display · blind and low vision · accessible authoring · social media accessibility

• From Compliance to Decision Confidence: A Scoping Review of Accessible E-Commerce for Blind and Low-Vision People

  Bektur Ryskeldiev, Matthew Gillingham, Norimasa Kobori · 2026 · Extended Abstracts of the 2026 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI EA '26)

  Ryskeldiev, Gillingham, and Kobori (Mercari R4D and University of Tsukuba) present a scoping review of 21 papers (14 directly about e-commerce accessibility for blind and low-vision (BLV) users, 7 adjacent) published 2010-2025, drawn from ACM DL, Google Scholar, and…

  e-commerce accessibility · blind and low vision · scoping review · online shopping · C2C marketplaces

• Access to Interpretation: How Formal Cues Ground Interpretive Alt Text for Paintings

  Vera L. Zhong, Lucy Jiang, Kathryn E. Ringland · 2026 · Extended Abstracts of the 2026 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI EA ’26)

  This CHI 2026 Extended Abstract examines a gap between mainstream alt text conventions and the interpretive work that paintings are designed to evoke. The authors argue that dominant guidance for alt text foregrounds brevity, objectivity, and functional equivalence — an approach…

  alt text · image description · blind and low vision · museum accessibility · cultural heritage

• Embroidered Braille: Towards Accessible and Inclusive Educational Tools and Everyday Applications

  Pouya M Khorsandi, Sara Nabil · 2026 · CHI EA '26: Extended Abstracts of the 2026 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems

  This short CHI Extended Abstracts paper by Khorsandi and Nabil (Queen's University iStudio) stakes out digitally embroidered Braille as a design space for DIY making of accessible everyday artefacts, rather than as another institutional assistive-technology pipeline. The authors…

  braille · digital embroidery · tactile graphics · blind and low vision · DIY

• SoundSpace: What and Where Through Sound

  Amber Maimon, Iddo Yehoshua Wald, Rahaf Sobh, Carol Sliman, Yarah Nassar, Joel Lanir · 2026 · Extended Abstracts of the 2026 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI EA '26)

  SoundSpace is a real-time sensory substitution system designed to give blind and visually impaired users simultaneous awareness of what objects are present in a scene and where they are located, without relying exclusively on verbal scene descriptions. The authors argue that…

  blind and low vision · sensory substitution · spatial audio · sonification · assistive technology

• Making Charts Speak: LLM-Based Conversational Chart Question Answering for Blind and Low-Vision Users

  Amit Kumar Das, Mohammad Tarun, Klaus Mueller · 2026 · Extended Abstracts of the 2026 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI EA '26)

  Das, Tarun, and Mueller present GraphWhisper, a conversational system that lets blind and low-vision (BLV) users explore chart images (JPEG, PNG) through natural-language questions, without requiring the chart data to be pre-structured in formats like Vega-Lite. The authors…

  chart accessibility · data visualization · blind and low vision · large language models · conversational interface

• AR Haptic-Audio Conversion for Non-Visual Product Understanding in Smartphone AR

  Satomi Tokida, Ayaka Tsutsui, Norimasa Kobori, Matthew Gillingham, Bektur Ryskeldiev · 2026 · Extended Abstracts of the 2026 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI EA '26)

  Tokida and colleagues (Mercari R4D, University of Tokyo, University of Tsukuba) tackle a specific gap in e-commerce accessibility: the AR 'view-in-room' features now common in online marketplaces (IKEA Place, Amazon AR View) assume sighted interaction and leave blind and…

  blind and low vision · augmented reality · mobile AR · haptics · vibrotactile

• ViDscribe: Multimodal AI for Customizing Audio Description and Question Answering in Online Videos

  Maryam S Cheema, Sina Elahimanesh, Pooyan Fazli, Hasti Seifi · 2026 · Extended Abstracts of the 2026 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI EA '26)

  Cheema and colleagues (Arizona State University and Saarland University) present ViDscribe, a web platform that layers AI-generated audio description (AD) and conversational visual question answering (VQA) on top of arbitrary YouTube videos for blind and low vision (BLV)…

  video accessibility · audio description · blind and low vision · multimodal large language models · visual question answering

• Sonic Stage: Automatically Generating an Interactive Spatial Soundscape to Facilitate Dialogue Video Comprehension for Blind and Low Vision Viewers

  Shuchang Xu, Xiaofu Jin, Gaurav Jain, Wenshuo Zhang, Huamin Qu, Brian A. Smith, Yukang Yan · 2026 · Extended Abstracts of the 2026 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI EA '26)

  Xu and colleagues (HKUST, Columbia, Aalto, Rochester) tackle a well-known but largely unsolved problem in video accessibility: standard audio description (AD) is constrained not to overlap with dialogue, so dialogue-heavy scenes in films and TV - where characters' actions,…

  video accessibility · audio description · blind and low vision · spatial audio · sound design

• Access Is Not Enough: Toward Developmental Flourishing

  Yuanyang (YY) Teng, Darren Gergle · 2026 · Extended Abstracts of the 2026 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI EA '26)

  Teng and Gergle (Northwestern University) present an opinion paper arguing that the dominant 'access' framing in accessibility research - measuring success through task completion and outcome equivalence within visual-first activities - is fundamentally insufficient. They…

  accessibility theory · assistive technology · blind and low vision · flourishing · disability studies

• SocialCue: Exploring the Design Space of Social Wayfinding Assistants for Blind and Low Vision People

  Veronica Bossio Botero, Sidharth Sharma, Ruoyu Iris Xu, Lisa Maria DiSalvo, Ritvik Sharma, Brian A. Smith · 2026 · Extended Abstracts of the 2026 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI EA ’26)

  SocialCue is a wearable technology probe that targets a problem most assistive navigation work ignores: not where to walk, but how to read and act inside an unfolding social scene. The authors argue that existing tools for blind and low vision (BLV) people focus on spatial…

  blind and low vision · social navigation · wayfinding · wearable technology · computer vision