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• Automated tactile graphics translation: in the field

  Chandrika Jayant, Matt Renzelmann, Dana Wen, Satria Krisnandi, Richard Ladner, Dan Comden · 2007 · Proceedings of the 9th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (Assets '07)

  This paper describes two years of field work extending the Tactile Graphics Assistant (TGA), a system developed at the University of Washington to automate the translation of figures from mathematics, science, and engineering (STEM) textbooks into embossed tactile graphics for…

  tactile graphics · Braille · STEM accessibility · blindness and low vision · image processing

• Analysis of Navigability of Web Applications for Improving Blind Usability

  Hironobu Takagi, Shin Saito, Kentarou Fukuda, Chieko Asakawa · 2007 · ACM Transactions on Computer-Human Interaction (TOCHI), Vol. 14, No. 3, Article 13

  This TOCHI article is a two-study investigation into why modern web applications — especially visually dense online shopping sites — remain slow and frustrating for blind users even when they pass automated accessibility checks. The authors argue that current usability theory,…

  web accessibility · screen readers · voice browser · navigation · usability testing

• iCARE Interaction Assistant: A Wearable Face Recognition System for Individuals with Visual Impairments

  Sreekar Krishna, Greg Little, John Black, Sethuraman Panchanathan · 2005 · Proceedings of the 7th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (Assets '05)

  This paper presents the iCARE Interaction Assistant, a wearable assistive device designed to facilitate social interactions for people who are blind or visually impaired by recognizing faces in their vicinity. The system was motivated by input from focus groups who highlighted…

  face recognition · wearable technology · blindness and low vision · social interaction · computer vision

• Proposing New Metrics to Evaluate Web Usability for the Blind

  Kentarou Fukuda, Shin Saito, Hironobu Takagi, Chieko Asakawa · 2005 · CHI '05 Extended Abstracts on Human Factors in Computing Systems

  This four-page CHI '05 extended abstract argues that existing automated accessibility checkers — in 2005 typified by Bobby — had plateaued: they verified the presence of ALT attributes, labels, and markup conformance, yet real blind users still found many 'compliant' web pages…

  web accessibility · accessibility evaluation · accessibility metrics · screen readers · voice browser

• Memory Enhancement through Audio

  Jaime Sánchez, Héctor Flores · 2004 · Proceedings of the 6th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (Assets 04)

  This paper presents AudioMemory, a virtual environment based on audio designed to develop and enhance short-term memory in blind children, along with AudioMath, an extension that applies the same model to mathematics learning. Developed at the University of Chile, the software…

  blindness and low vision · children · audio · cognitive development · education

• The Audio Abacus: Representing Numerical Values with Nonspeech Sound for the Visually Impaired

  Bruce N. Walker, Jeffrey Lindsay, Justin Godfrey · 2003 · Proceedings of the 6th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (Assets '04)

  This paper introduces the Audio Abacus, a novel sonification application that transforms exact numerical values into sequences of non-speech tones, following the analogy of a physical abacus where each digit is represented by a distinct sound. Unlike most sonification research,…

  sonification · auditory display · blindness and low vision · data visualization · non-visual interaction

• Accessibility Designer: Visualizing Usability for the Blind

  Hironobu Takagi, Chieko Asakawa, Kentarou Fukuda, Junji Maeda · 2003 · Proceedings of the 6th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (Assets '04)

  This paper from IBM's Tokyo Research Laboratory presents Accessibility Designer (aDesigner), a tool that goes beyond conventional accessibility checkers by visualising the usability of web pages for blind screen reader users rather than merely checking HTML compliance. The…

  web accessibility · accessibility testing · screen reader · blindness and low vision · accessibility tools

• Evaluation of a Non-Visual Molecule Browser

  Andy Brown, Steve Pettifer, Robert Stevens · 2003 · Proceedings of the 6th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (Assets '04)

  This paper evaluates Kekulé, software designed to allow visually impaired users to explore chemical molecular structures — diagrams that are typically presented as two-dimensional graph schematics showing atoms (nodes) connected by bonds (edges). Molecular diagrams are an…

  STEM accessibility · non-visual interaction · blindness and low vision · diagram accessibility · synthesized speech

• Design and Development of an Indoor Navigation and Object Identification System for the Blind

  Andreas Hub, Joachim Diepstraten, Thomas Ertl · 2003 · Proceedings of the 6th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (Assets '04)

  This paper presents a multi-sensor orientation assistant for blind users navigating unknown indoor environments. The system addresses three core problems identified by blind users: determining one's position, determining head direction and movement direction, and identifying…

  indoor navigation · blindness and low vision · object recognition · orientation and mobility · mobile technology

• Site-Wide Annotation: Reconstructing Existing Pages to Be Accessible

  Hironobu Takagi, Chieko Asakawa, Kentarou Fukuda, Junji Maeda · 2002 · Proceedings of the Fifth International ACM Conference on Assistive Technologies (Assets '02)

  This paper from IBM Tokyo Research Laboratory presents a system for making inaccessible web pages accessible through external annotations, without modifying the original pages. The core problem is "page fragmentation" — on visually designed web pages, different types of content…

  web accessibility · web transcoding · web annotation · screen reader · blindness and low vision

• Design and Implementation of Virtual Environments for Training of the Visually Impaired

  D. Tzovaras, G. Nikolakis, G. Fergadis, S. Malasiotis, M. Stavrakis · 2002 · Proceedings of the Fifth International ACM Conference on Assistive Technologies (Assets '02)

  This paper from the Informatics and Telematics Institute in Greece presents the ENORASI project, an EU-funded initiative to develop a haptic virtual reality training system for blind and visually impaired people. The system uses a CyberGrasp haptic glove — an exoskeletal device…

  haptic technology · virtual reality · blindness and low vision · training · orientation and mobility

• 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

• Constructing Sonified Haptic Line Graphs for the Blind Student: First Steps

  Rameshsharma Ramloll, Wai Yu, Stephen Brewster, Beate Riedel, Mike Burton, Gisela Dimigen · 2000 · Proceedings of the Fourth International ACM Conference on Assistive Technologies (Assets '00)

  This paper presents early research from the University of Glasgow's MultiVis project, a three-year initiative investigating how different sensory modalities can make statistical information representations accessible to blind people. The focus is on making line graphs — a…

  data visualization · sonification · haptic technology · blindness and low vision · tactile graphics

• Tactile Imaging Using Watershed-Based Image Segmentation

  Sergio E. Hernandez, Kenneth E. Barner · 2000 · Proceedings of the Fourth International ACM Conference on Assistive Technologies (Assets '00)

  This paper from the University of Delaware proposes a new image segmentation method for automatically converting visual images into tactile representations suitable for display on tactile devices such as microcapsule (swell) paper. The core problem addressed is that existing…

  tactile graphics · image processing · blindness and low vision · image accessibility · computer vision

• Wearable Interfaces for Orientation and Wayfinding

  David A. Ross, Bruce B. Blasch · 2000 · Proceedings of the Fourth International ACM Conference on Assistive Technologies (Assets '00)

  This paper from the Atlanta VA Rehabilitation R&D Center presents the development and evaluation of three wearable orientation interfaces designed to help people with severe visual impairment maintain spatial orientation while navigating, with street crossing as the critical…

  wayfinding · orientation and mobility · wearable technology · blindness and low vision · haptic feedback

• Annotation-Based Transcoding for Nonvisual Web Access

  Chieko Asakawa, Hironobu Takagi · 2000 · Proceedings of the Fourth International ACM Conference on Assistive Technologies (Assets '00)

  This companion paper to the same authors' transcoding proxy paper (also at Assets '00) provides a detailed technical description of the annotation-based component of their IBM Japan transcoding system. The core problem addressed is that modern web pages are designed with visual…

  web accessibility · screen reader · transcoding · non-visual access · blindness and low vision

• A Study of Blind Drawing Practice: Creating Graphical Information Without the Visual Channel

  Hesham M. Kamel, James A. Landay · 2000 · Proceedings of the Fourth International ACM Conference on Assistive Technologies (Assets '00)

  This paper from UC Berkeley investigates how blind users create drawings and proposes a grid-based model for non-visual drawing tools. The researchers began by observing that existing drawing tools for blind users fail because they lack adequate contextual feedback — blind users…

  tactile graphics · blindness and low vision · non-visual interaction · drawing tools · accessible graphics

• User Interface of a Nonvisual Table Navigation Method

  Chieko Asakawa, Takashi Itoh · 1999 · CHI '99 Extended Abstracts on Human Factors in Computing Systems

  This two-page CHI '99 late-breaking-results extended abstract addresses a problem that was central to the early accessible web: HTML tables were everywhere — used both for tabular data and, at the time, as a layout device — but talking web browsers read them strictly…

  web accessibility · screen readers · voice browser · table accessibility · blindness and low vision

• AudioGraf: A Diagram-Reader for the Blind

  Andrea R. Kennel · 1996 · Proceedings of the Second Annual ACM Conference on Assistive Technologies (Assets '96)

  This paper from ETH Zürich presents AudioGraf, a system that enables blind and visually impaired users to read diagrams through a combination of touch panel input and auditory display. The core problem addressed is that diagrams — widely used in technical reports and papers to…

  blindness and low vision · auditory display · tactile graphics · diagram accessibility · non-visual access

• TDraw: A Computer-Based Tactile Drawing Tool for Blind People

  Martin Kurze · 1996 · Proceedings of the Second Annual ACM Conference on Assistive Technologies (Assets '96)

  This paper from Freie Universität Berlin presents TDraw, a computer-based system that enables blind people to create tactile drawings and, equally importantly, allows researchers to study how blind people draw. The paper begins with a theoretical analysis of how blind and…

  blindness and low vision · tactile graphics · tactile drawing · mental model · spatial cognition

• Interactive Tactile Display System: A Support System for the Visually Disabled to Recognize 3D Objects

  Yoshihiro Kawai, Fumiaki Tomita · 1996 · Proceedings of the Second Annual ACM Conference on Assistive Technologies (Assets '96)

  This paper from the Electrotechnical Laboratory in Tsukuba, Japan describes an interactive tactile display system that combines stereo computer vision with a pin-based tactile display and voice synthesis to help blind users recognize three-dimensional objects and environments.…

  blindness and low vision · tactile display · stereo vision · computer vision · 3D object recognition

• Development of Dialogue Systems for a Mobility Aid for Blind People: Initial Design and Usability Testing

  Thomas Strothotte, Steffi Fritz, Rainer Michel, Andreas Raab, Helen Petrie, Valerie Johnson, Lars Reichert, Axel Schalt · 1996 · Proceedings of the Second Annual ACM Conference on Assistive Technologies (Assets '96)

  This paper presents the MoBIC Travel Aid (MoTA), an EU-funded system designed to increase independent mobility for blind and elderly travellers by combining Geographic Information Systems (GIS) with the Global Positioning System (GPS). The system has two complementary…

  blindness and low vision · navigation · GPS · GIS · orientation and mobility

• Emacspeak — Direct Speech Access

  T. V. Raman · 1996 · Proceedings of the Second Annual ACM Conference on Assistive Technologies (Assets '96)

  This paper by T. V. Raman (then at Adobe Systems, developed while at Digital Equipment Corporation's Cambridge Research Lab) presents Emacspeak, a speech output subsystem for Emacs that provides what the author terms "direct speech access" to UNIX workstations. Raman draws a…

  screen reader · speech output · blindness and low vision · UNIX accessibility · text-to-speech

• Improving the Usability of Speech-Based Interfaces for Blind Users

  Ian J. Pitt, Alistair D. N. Edwards · 1996 · Proceedings of the Second Annual ACM Conference on Assistive Technologies (Assets '96)

  This paper from the University of York examines the usability problems inherent in speech-based interfaces for blind computer users and presents a study comparing how blind and sighted subjects process information delivered through synthetic speech. The authors identify six key…

  blindness and low vision · screen reader · speech synthesis · usability · speech dialogue design