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• Identifying Visual Cues to Improve Independent Indoor Navigation for Blind Individuals

  Cameron Tyler Cassidy · 2017 · Proceedings of the 19th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS)

  This student research competition paper proposes a novel approach to indoor navigation for blind individuals that focuses on providing environmental awareness and a "sense of space" rather than traditional point-to-point directions. The author argues that most existing…

  indoor navigation · blindness · computer vision · eye tracking · wayfinding

• Participatory Design Using Sensory Substitution Devices with Tactile and Audio Feedback

  Ella Tuson, Samantha Hughson, Christina Zymaris, Ryan King · 2017 · Proceedings of the 19th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS)

  This student research paper describes a participatory design study with a single blind participant (TC, blind from birth) to develop a sensory substitution device that provides a physical experience of spatial awareness through tactile or auditory feedback. The study was…

  sensory substitution · blindness · haptic feedback · participatory design · tactile accessibility

• Deaf, Hard of Hearing, and Hearing Perspectives on Using Automatic Speech Recognition in Conversation

  Abraham Glasser, Kesavan Kushalnagar, Raja Kushalnagar · 2017 · Proceedings of the 19th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS)

  This experience report describes the real-world accessibility challenges encountered by five participants — two deaf, one hard of hearing, and two hearing — including the authors, when using the top seven most popular ASR applications (DEAFCOM, Dragon Dictation, Siri, Virtual…

  automatic speech recognition · deaf and hard of hearing · speech recognition · communication accessibility · voice interface

• Predictive Link Following Plug-In For Web Browsers

  Lyle Pierson Stachecki, John Magee · 2017 · Proceedings of the 19th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS)

  This demonstration paper presents the first public release of a target-aware pointing assistance plug-in for web browsers that uses Predictive Link Following to help people with motor impairments select links on web pages. Web browsing is challenging for users of mouse…

  motor accessibility · web accessibility · mouse replacement interface · eye tracking · assistive technology

• Technology-Mediated Sight: A Case Study of Early Adopters of a Low Vision Assistive Technology

  Annuska Zolyomi, Anushree Shukla, Jaime Snyder · 2017 · Proceedings of the 19th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS)

  This qualitative case study examines the psychosocial and adaptive experiences of early adopters of the eSight 2.0 — a head-mounted assistive device for people with low vision that captures live video and displays enhanced images on high-resolution OLED screens inside…

  low vision · assistive technology · head-mounted display · qualitative research · disability identity

• Interviews and Observation of Blind Software Developers at Work to Understand Code Navigation Challenges

  Khaled Albusays, Stephanie Ludi, Matt Huenerfauth · 2017 · Proceedings of the 19th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS)

  This exploratory study investigates code navigation challenges faced by 28 blind software developers using their preferred coding tools and assistive technologies. The researchers at Rochester Institute of Technology and University of North Texas conducted remote interview and…

  blindness · programming education · software engineering · screen readers · workplace accessibility

• "Is Someone There? Do They Have a Gun": How Visual Information about Others Can Improve Personal Safety Management for Blind Individuals

  Stacy M. Branham, Ali Abdolrahmani, William Easley, Morgan Scheuerman, Erick Ronquillo, Amy Hurst · 2017 · Proceedings of the 19th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS '17)

  This paper investigates an underexplored dimension of accessibility for people who are blind: the need for visual information about other people to manage personal physical safety. While decades of assistive technology research have focused on helping blind individuals navigate…

  blindness · personal safety · facial recognition · assistive technology · navigation

• A Pilot Deployment of an Online Tool for Large-Scale Virtual Auditing of Urban Accessibility

  Manaswi Saha, Kotaro Hara, Soheil Behnezhad, Anthony Li, Michael Saugstad, Hanuma Maddali, Sage Chen, Jon E. Froehlich · 2017 · Proceedings of the 19th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS '17)

  This demonstration paper introduces Project Sidewalk, a web-based tool that enables anyone with an internet connection to remotely audit urban sidewalk accessibility by virtually walking through city streets using Google Street View. The tool addresses a significant gap in…

  crowdsourcing · urban accessibility · GIS · sidewalk accessibility · curb ramps

• Designing Interactions for 3D Printed Models with Blind People

  Lei Shi, Yuhang Zhao, Shiri Azenkot · 2017 · Proceedings of the 19th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS '17)

  This paper investigates how blind people explore 3D printed models and what interaction techniques they prefer for interactive 3D printed models (I3Ms) — physical models augmented with sensors that provide audio descriptions when touched. While 3D printing has become…

  3D printing · blindness · tactile perception · interaction design · participatory design

• Prime III: Voting for a More Accessible Future

  Simone A. Smarr, Imani N. Sherman, Brianna Posadas, Juan E. Gilbert · 2017 · Proceedings of the 19th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS '17)

  This demonstration paper presents Prime III, an open-source, multimodal electronic ballot marking system designed to allow all voters — regardless of ability or disability — to vote independently and privately on the same machine. Developed at the University of Florida beginning…

  accessible voting · universal design · multimodal interaction · blindness · civic participation

• Evaluating the Usability of Automatically Generated Captions for People who are Deaf or Hard of Hearing

  Sushant Kafle, Matt Huenerfauth · 2017 · Proceedings of the 19th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS '17)

  This paper addresses a fundamental problem in automatic captioning for Deaf and Hard of Hearing (DHH) users: the standard metric used to evaluate automatic speech recognition (ASR) systems — Word Error Rate (WER) — poorly predicts how usable the resulting captions actually are…

  captioning · automatic speech recognition · deaf and hard of hearing · evaluation methods · natural language processing

• Crowdsourcing the Installation and Maintenance of Indoor Navigation Infrastructure

  Cole Gleason · 2017 · Proceedings of the 19th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS '17)

  This student research competition paper presents LuzDeploy, a system designed to solve a major barrier to the adoption of indoor navigation systems for people with visual impairments: the high cost and expertise required to install and maintain the necessary infrastructure.…

  indoor navigation · crowdsourcing · Bluetooth beacons · blindness · wayfinding

• DytectiveU: A Game to Train the Difficulties and the Strengths of Children with Dyslexia

  Luz Rello, Arturo Macias, María Herrera, Camila de Ros, Enrique Romero, Jeffrey P. Bigham · 2017 · Proceedings of the 19th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS '17)

  This demonstration paper presents DytectiveU, a game-based application containing 35,000 exercises designed to train cognitive abilities related to dyslexia in Spanish-speaking children. Unlike most existing dyslexia interventions that focus narrowly on reading fluency or…

  dyslexia · serious games · cognitive accessibility · gamification · learning disabilities

• DroneNavigator: Using Leashed and Free-Floating Quadcopters to Navigate Visually Impaired Travelers

  Mauro Avila Soto, Markus Funk, Matthias Hoppe, Robin Boldt, Katrin Wolf, Niels Henze · 2017 · Proceedings of the 19th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS '17)

  This paper explores an unconventional approach to navigation assistance for visually impaired travelers: using small, lightweight quadcopters as mobile sound and haptic sources to guide users through indoor environments. While existing navigation systems deliver directional…

  navigation · blindness · drones · assistive technology · haptic technology

• COSMA: Cooperative Self-Management Tool for Adolescents with Autism

  Myeonghan Ryu, Eunkyung Jo, Sung-In Kim · 2017 · Proceedings of the 19th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS '17)

  This student research competition paper presents COSMA, a mobile application prototype designed to support cooperative self-management of behavior for adolescents with autism during their transition through puberty. Adolescence is particularly challenging for individuals with…

  autism · self-management · adolescents · behavior change · mobile application

• In-context Q&A to Support Blind People Using Smartphones

  André Rodrigues, Kyle Montague, Hugo Nicolau, João Guerreiro, Tiago Guerreiro · 2017 · Proceedings of the 19th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS '17)

  This paper addresses a pervasive but understudied problem: the daily challenges blind people face when using smartphone applications go far beyond the touchscreen gesture difficulties that most accessibility research focuses on. The researchers conducted workshops with 42 blind…

  blindness · smartphone accessibility · screen readers · crowdsourcing · human computation

• Virtual Navigation for Blind People: Building Sequential Representations of the Real-World

  João Guerreiro, Dragan Ahmetovic, Kris M. Kitani, Chieko Asakawa · 2017 · Proceedings of the 19th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS '17)

  This paper investigates whether blind people can build accurate mental representations of real-world routes by virtually navigating them on a smartphone before physically visiting the location. Sighted people routinely study maps before visiting new places, building a sequential…

  blindness · navigation · cognitive mapping · virtual navigation · orientation and mobility

• Narratives of Older Adults with Mild Cognitive Impairment and Their Caregivers

  Galina Madjaroff, Helena Mentis · 2017 · Proceedings of the 19th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS '17)

  This paper examines how the narratives — the stories people tell about their lives and experiences — of older adults with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and their spousal caregivers shape and are shaped by technology in the home. MCI is defined as a noticeable decrement in…

  cognitive impairment · dementia · caregiving · aging · home-based technology

• An Exploratory Case Study to Support Young Children with Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA)

  Sheng Miao, Ziying Tang, Jinjuan Heidi Feng, Amanda Jozkowski, Molly Lichtenwalner · 2017 · Proceedings of the 19th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS '17)

  This demonstration paper presents a case study exploring input solutions for very young children with Type I Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA), the most severe form of a neurodegenerative disease that causes degeneration of spinal cord motor neurons, skeletal muscle atrophy, and…

  spinal muscular atrophy · motor disability · alternative input · sensors · young children

• Improving Smartphone Accessibility with Personalizable Static Overlays

  André Rodrigues, André Santos, Kyle Montague, Tiago Guerreiro · 2017 · Proceedings of the 19th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS '17)

  This paper addresses a fundamental usability problem for blind smartphone users: the loss of interface consistency that occurred when physical keypad phones gave way to touchscreen smartphones. Feature phones had tactually recognizable keys, simpler interfaces, and consistent…

  blindness · smartphone accessibility · screen readers · mobile accessibility · personalization

• AMI: An Adaptable Music Interface to Support the Varying Needs of People with Dementia

  P. Frazer Seymour, Justin Matejka, Geoff Foulds, Ihor Petelycky, Fraser Anderson · 2017 · Proceedings of the 19th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS '17)

  This paper presents AMI (Adaptable Music Interface), a tangible, modular music player designed to be reconfigured by caregivers to match the changing needs and preferences of individuals with dementia. Over 46 million people worldwide live with dementia, a progressive syndrome…

  dementia · tangible interaction · music accessibility · personalization · aging

• Good Background Colors for Readers: A Study of People with and without Dyslexia

  Luz Rello, Jeffrey P. Bigham · 2017 · Proceedings of the 19th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS '17)

  This paper presents the first large-scale user study measuring the effect of background colors on screen readability for people with and without dyslexia, providing empirical evidence for the widely recommended but previously unvalidated practice of using colored backgrounds to…

  dyslexia · readability · color contrast · reading accessibility · visual design

• Design and Psychometric Evaluation of an American Sign Language Translation of the System Usability Scale

  Matt Huenerfauth, Kasmira Patel, Larwan Berke · 2017 · Proceedings of the 19th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS '17)

  This paper addresses a significant gap in accessibility research methodology: the lack of standardized usability questionnaires available in American Sign Language (ASL) for Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing (DHH) participants. The System Usability Scale (SUS) is one of the most widely…

  sign language · deaf accessibility · usability testing · survey translation · psychometrics

• Introducing People with ASD to Crowd Work

  Kotaro Hara, Jeffrey P. Bigham · 2017 · Proceedings of the 19th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS '17)

  This paper explores whether crowdsourcing platforms like Amazon Mechanical Turk (AMT) can provide viable employment opportunities for adults with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). With an estimated 50-75% unemployment rate among adults with ASD in the U.S., the authors investigate…

  autism spectrum disorder · crowdsourcing · employment · micro-tasks · assistive technology

• CymaSense: A Novel Audio-Visual Therapeutic Tool for People on the Autism Spectrum

  John McGowan, Grégory Leplâtre, Iain McGregor · 2017 · Proceedings of the 19th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS '17)

  This paper presents CymaSense, an interactive multimodal tool that generates real-time 3D visual representations of sound based on Cymatics — the study of visible patterns created by sound vibrations in physical media like water or metal plates. The system was designed to…

  autism spectrum disorder · music therapy · assistive technology · multimodal interaction · sensory processing