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• Developing Accessible Mobile Applications with Cross-Platform Development Frameworks

  Sergio Mascetti, Mattia Ducci, Niccolò Cantù, Paolo Pecis, Dragan Ahmetovic · 2021 · Proceedings of the 23rd International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS)

  This experience report from the EveryWare Lab at the University of Milan systematically analyzes how well cross-platform development frameworks (CPDFs) support screen reader accessibility APIs compared to native iOS and Android development. The team, which has been developing…

  mobile accessibility · cross-platform development · screen readers · React Native · Xamarin

• Screen Parsing: Towards Reverse Engineering of UI Models from Screenshots

  Jason Wu, Xiaoyi Zhang, Jeff Nichols, Jeffrey P. Bigham · 2021 · The 34th Annual ACM Symposium on User Interface Software and Technology (UIST)

  This paper introduces screen parsing, the task of predicting UI elements and their hierarchical relationships from a screenshot alone. While prior work could detect individual UI elements on a screen (element detection), those approaches produced flat lists of elements with no…

  screen readers · mobile accessibility · computer vision · UI semantics · machine learning

• Screen Recognition: Creating Accessibility Metadata for Mobile Applications from Pixels

  Xiaoyi Zhang, Lilian de Greef, Amanda Swearngin, Samuel White, Kyle Murray, Lisa Yu, Qi Shan, Jeffrey Nichols, Jason Wu, Chris Fleizach, Aaron Everitt, Jeffrey P. Bigham · 2021 · CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems

  This paper from Apple introduces Screen Recognition, a system that automatically generates accessibility metadata for mobile apps by analyzing their visual pixels, enabling screen readers to work with apps that lack proper developer-provided accessibility information. The…

  mobile accessibility · screen readers · machine learning · object detection · VoiceOver

• PDF Readability Enhancement on Mobile Devices

  Zachary Shelton, Chen-Hsiang Yu · 2020 · Proceedings of the 17th International Web for All Conference (W4A)

  This paper presents PDFroggy, an Android application that applies content transformation techniques to PDF documents on mobile devices to enhance readability. The research addresses a specific gap: while previous work has demonstrated that content transformation methods like…

  PDF accessibility · readability · mobile accessibility · content transformation · document accessibility

• Understanding In-Situ Use of Commonly Available Navigation Technologies by People with Visual Impairments

  Vaishnav Kameswaran, Jatin Gureja, Joyojeet Pal, Sile O'Modhrain, Tiffany L. Ye, Jon Froehlich, Leah Findlater, Meredith Ringel Morris · 2020 · ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS)

  This paper presents a qualitative study investigating how people with visual impairments use commonly available navigation technologies in their daily lives. Conducted by researchers at Microsoft Research and the University of Michigan, the study involved semi-structured…

  visual impairments · navigation · wayfinding · assistive technology · complementarity

• "Maps are hard for me": Identifying How Older Adults Struggle with Mobile Maps

  Ja Eun Yu, Debaleena Chattopadhyay · 2020 · ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS)

  This short paper from the University of Illinois at Chicago examines how older adults (aged 60+) use Google Maps on their own mobile devices and identifies the specific accessibility challenges they encounter. While smartphone ownership among US adults aged 65+ grew from 18% in…

  older adults · mobile accessibility · mobile maps · touchscreen · cognitive accessibility

• 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

• Eyelid Gestures on Mobile Devices for People with Motor Impairments

  Mingming Fan, Zhen Li, Franklin Mingzhe Li · 2020 · Proceedings of the 22nd International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS 2020)

  This paper presents a novel approach to mobile device interaction for people with severe motor impairments: using eyelid gestures detected by the smartphone's front-facing camera. While existing eye-based interaction research has primarily focused on gaze direction and simple…

  motor accessibility · mobile accessibility · input methods · gesture interaction · eye tracking

• Making Mobile Augmented Reality Applications Accessible

  Jaylin Herskovitz, Jason Wu, Samuel White, Amy Pavel, Gabriel Reyes, Anhong Guo, Jeffrey P. Bigham · 2020 · Proceedings of the 22nd International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS 2020)

  This paper tackles a fundamental accessibility gap in augmented reality: AR applications are overwhelmingly visual, mixing virtual 3D objects with the real world in ways that existing screen readers and accessibility services cannot interpret. The researchers analyzed 105…

  augmented reality · visual accessibility · blindness and low vision · mobile accessibility · screen readers

• CaseGuide: Making Cheap Smartphones Accessible to Individuals with Visual Impairments in Informal Settlements

  Roos van Greevenbroek · 2020 · Proceedings of the 22nd International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS 2020)

  This short paper presents CaseGuide, a low-cost concept for making cheap smartphones accessible to individuals with visual impairments living in informal settlements (IVIIS). The majority of visually impaired people live in low-income areas where less than 5-15% can access…

  visual accessibility · mobile accessibility · global accessibility · Global South accessibility · assistive technology

• Supporting Older Adults in Locating Mobile Interface Features with Voice Input

  Ja Eun Yu, Debaleena Chattopadhyay · 2020 · Proceedings of the 22nd International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS 2020)

  This demonstration paper presents a voice assistant system built on Android that helps older adults locate specific features on complex mobile interfaces by speaking natural language queries. The system addresses a well-documented challenge: older adults struggle to find…

  aging · mobile accessibility · voice interface · user interface design · assistive technology

• AIGuide: An Augmented Reality Hand Guidance Application for People with Visual Impairments

  Nelson Daniel Troncoso Aldas, Sooyeon Lee, Chonghan Lee, Mary Beth Rosson, John M. Carroll, Vijaykrishnan Narayanan · 2020 · Proceedings of the 22nd International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS 2020)

  This paper presents AIGuide, a self-contained offline iOS smartphone application that uses augmented reality (ARKit) to help people with visual impairments locate, navigate to, and pick up objects in their surroundings. Unlike existing object detection apps (Seeing AI, Aipoly)…

  visual accessibility · augmented reality · blindness and low vision · mobile accessibility · computer vision

• Breaking Boundaries with Live Transcribe: Expanding Use Cases Beyond Standard Captioning Scenarios

  Fernando Loizides, Sara Basson, Dimitri Kanevsky, Olga Prilepova, Sagar Savla, Susanna Zaraysky · 2020 · Proceedings of the 22nd International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS)

  This short paper catalogs non-traditional, serendipitous uses of Google's Live Transcribe, a free Android application that provides real-time speech-to-text transcription in over 80 languages. The authors — a mix of Google developers, researchers, and DHH users (co-creator…

  automatic speech recognition · deaf and hard of hearing · captioning · speech to text · COVID-19

• Supporting Selfie Editing Experiences for People with Visual Impairments

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

  This short paper investigates the selfie editing experiences and desires of people with visual impairments (PVI), a topic largely overlooked despite research showing that PVI actively participate in social media and photo sharing. The study has two parts: an online survey of 47…

  visual impairment · social media accessibility · photo editing · voice interface · blindness

• Designing and Evaluating Head-based Pointing on Smartphones for People with Motor Impairments

  Muratcan Cicek, Ankit Dave, Wenxin Feng, Michael Xuelin Huang, Julia Katherine Haines, Jeffry Nichols · 2020 · Proceedings of the 22nd International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS '20)

  This paper presents a calibration-free head-based pointing (HBP) system for Android smartphones that uses the standard front-facing camera to enable people with motor impairments to control an on-screen cursor through head movements. The system was designed by a team including…

  motor accessibility · head tracking · alternative input · mobile accessibility · Fitts law

• A Portable Hong Kong Sign Language Translation Platform with Deep Learning and Jetson Nano

  Zhenxing Zhou, Yisiang Neo, King-Shan Lui, Vincent W.L. Tam, Edmund Y. Lam, Ngai Wong · 2020 · Proceedings of the 22nd International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS)

  This demonstration paper presents a portable platform for translating Hong Kong Sign Language (HKSL) into spoken language using deep learning and edge computing hardware. The system addresses a significant communication gap: Hong Kong has over 155,000 deaf or hard of hearing…

  sign language recognition · deep learning · edge computing · mobile accessibility · deaf and hard of hearing

• VectorEntry: Text Entry Mechanism Using Handheld Touch-Enabled Mobile Devices for People with Visual Impairments

  Debasis Samanta, Tuhin Chakraborty · 2020 · ACM Transactions on Accessible Computing

  This research develops VectorEntry, a gesture-based text entry system for touchscreen mobile devices designed specifically for people with visual impairments. The authors conducted two preliminary studies to understand how users with visual impairments perform directional…

  visual impairment · blindness · text entry · mobile accessibility · touchscreen

• An Epidemiology-inspired Large-scale Analysis of Android App Accessibility

  Anne Spencer Ross, Xiaoyi Zhang, James Fogarty, Jacob O. Wobbrock · 2020 · ACM Transactions on Accessible Computing

  This paper presents the largest analysis of Android app accessibility to date, testing 9,999 free apps from the Rico repository for seven distinct accessibility barriers. Drawing on epidemiological methods, the authors frame accessibility barriers as "diseases" affecting the app…

  mobile accessibility · Android · TalkBack · screen readers · automated testing

• ReCog: Supporting Blind People in Recognizing Personal Objects

  Dragan Ahmetovic, Daisuke Sato, Uran Oh, Tatsuya Ishihara, Kris Kitani, Chieko Asakawa · 2020 · Proceedings of the 2020 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems

  ReCog is a smartphone application designed to help blind users recognize their own personal objects — items like specific clothing, handmade goods, medicines, or family photos that cannot be identified by general-purpose recognizers such as Seeing AI or TapTapSee. The authors…

  visual impairment · blindness · object recognition · computer vision · deep learning

• Deaf Individuals' Views on Speaking Behaviors of Hearing Peers when Using an Automatic Captioning App

  Matthew Seita, Matt Huenerfauth · 2020 · Extended Abstracts of the 2020 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI EA '20)

  This CHI 2020 Late-Breaking Work paper investigates what behaviors hearing speakers should ideally exhibit when holding in-person conversations with Deaf or deaf people using an Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR) captioning app on a mobile device. The authors position the study…

  automatic speech recognition · deaf and hard of hearing · captioning · captions · speaking behavior

• Demonstration of GestureCalc: An Eyes-Free Calculator for Touch Screens

  Leah Perlmutter, Bindita Chaudhuri, Justin Petelka, Philip Garrison, James Fogarty, Jacob O. Wobbrock, Richard E. Ladner · 2019 · Proceedings of the 21st International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS)

  This demonstration paper presents GestureCalc, an eyes-free, target-less digital calculator for touch screen devices that replaces traditional button-based input with intuitive gesture-based input. The core problem is that existing calculator apps require precise tapping on…

  gesture-based interaction · touchscreen accessibility · blindness · visual impairment · screen reader

• Typing Slowly but Screen-Free: Exploring Navigation over Entirely Auditory Keyboards

  Reeti Mathur, Aishwarya Sheth, Parimal Vyas, Davide Bolchini · 2019 · Proceedings of the 21st International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS)

  This paper introduces the concept of "keyflows" — entirely auditory keyboards that operate without a reference screen, enabling blind users to type while untethered from their mobile device. The core problem is that current accessible keyboards require blind users to constantly…

  text entry · blindness · visual impairment · screen reader · auditory interface

• GestureCalc: An Eyes-Free Calculator for Touch Screens

  Bindita Chaudhuri, Leah Perlmutter, Justin Petelka, Philip Garrison, James Fogarty, Jacob O. Wobbrock, Richard E. Ladner · 2019 · Proceedings of the 21st International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS)

  This full research paper presents GestureCalc, an eyes-free, target-less gesture-based calculator for touch screens, along with a rigorous three-session longitudinal evaluation with eight screen reader users. The system replaces the spatial button layout of conventional…

  gesture-based interaction · touchscreen accessibility · blindness · visual impairment · screen reader

• Sidewalk, A Wayfinding Message Syntax for People with a Visual Impairment

  Joey van der Bie, Christina Jaschinski, Somaya Ben Allouch · 2019 · Proceedings of the 21st International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS 2019)

  This poster paper introduces Sidewalk, a structured wayfinding message syntax designed to improve navigation instructions for people with visual impairments (PVI) using mobile applications. The authors argue that traditional turn-by-turn navigation apps fail PVI because they…

  visual impairment · wayfinding · navigation · natural language · mobile accessibility