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• Color-Audio Encoding Interface for Visual Substitution: See ColOr Matlab-based Demo

  Juan Diego Gomez, Guido Bologna, Thierry Pun · 2010 · Proceedings of the 12th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS 2010)

  This demonstration paper presents the See ColOr (Seeing Color with an Orchestra) system, a framework that translates colour information from images into spatialized musical instrument sounds to provide people who are blind with a form of colour perception through hearing. The…

  sonification · visual substitution · blindness · color perception · sensory substitution

• Does a Sonar System Make a Blind Maze Navigation Computer Game More "Fun"?

  Matt Wilkerson, Amanda Koenig, James Daniel · 2010 · Proceedings of the 12th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS 2010)

  This student research paper from the Blind Programming Project at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville presents "The Dark Labyrinth," a zombie-killing maze navigation game designed entirely for blind players. The broader project goal is to create programmable video games…

  game accessibility · audio game · blind users · sonification · accessible programming

• Designing Auditory Cues to Enhance Spoken Mathematics for Visually Impaired Users

  Emma Murphy, Enda Bates, Dónal Fitzpatrick · 2010 · Proceedings of the 12th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS 2010)

  This paper presents a novel auditory math system designed to make spoken mathematical equations more accessible to visually impaired users. The core challenge addressed is that visual mathematical notation conveys structure — such as fractions, superscripts, subscripts, and…

  mathematical accessibility · auditory display · non-speech sound · spearcons · visual impairment

• Making Microsoft Excel Accessible: Multimodal Presentation of Charts

  Iyad Abu Doush, Enrico Pontelli, Dominic Simon, Tran Cao Son, Ou Ma · 2009 · Proceedings of the 11th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (Assets '09)

  This paper presents a system for making Microsoft Excel charts accessible to people with visual impairments through a combination of haptic force feedback and audio cues. The authors identify that while screen readers and specialised tools can handle tabular data in Excel, the…

  data visualization · haptic technology · sonification · visual impairment · charts

• Multimodal Trajectory Playback for Teaching Shape Information and Trajectories to Visually Impaired Computer Users

  Andrew Crossan, Stephen Brewster · 2008 · ACM Transactions on Accessible Computing (TACCESS)

  This research investigates how haptic (force-feedback) and audio trajectory playback can teach shapes and gestures to blind and visually impaired computer users. The fundamental challenge addressed is that spatial information—shapes, diagrams, graphs, maps—is difficult to convey…

  haptic technology · multimodal interaction · visual impairment · force feedback · tactile graphics

• PowerUp: An Accessible Virtual World

  Shari Trewin, Vicki L. Hanson, Mark R. Laff, Anna Cavender · 2008 · Proceedings of the 10th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (Assets '08)

  This paper describes the design and validation of accessibility features for PowerUp, an IBM-developed multiplayer 3D virtual world educational game aimed at middle school students. The researchers were tasked with making the game usable by players with visual, hearing,…

  game accessibility · virtual reality · visual impairment · blindness · cognitive accessibility

• Advanced Auditory Menus: Design and Evaluation of Auditory Scroll Bars

  Pavani Yalla, Bruce N. Walker · 2008 · Proceedings of the 10th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (Assets '08)

  This paper from the Sonification Lab at Georgia Institute of Technology investigates how to design auditory scrollbars — non-speech sound cues that convey contextual information (menu size, current position) while navigating auditory menus. Visual menus use scrollbars, icons,…

  auditory interface · auditory menu · sonification · non-speech sounds · universal design

• Constructing Relational Diagrams in Audio: The Multiple Perspective Hierarchical Approach

  Oussama Metatla, Nick Bryan-Kinns, Tony Stockman · 2008 · Proceedings of the 10th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (Assets '08)

  This paper from Queen Mary, University of London presents a novel approach for constructing and manipulating relational diagrams — such as Entity-Relationship (ER) diagrams — through an audio-only interface. While previous research addressed non-visual access to existing…

  auditory display · non-visual representation · diagram accessibility · blind users · accessible graphics

• Haptic comparison of size (relative magnitude) in blind and sighted people

  Sarah A. Douglas, Shasta Willson · 2007 · Proceedings of the 9th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (Assets '07)

  Douglas and Willson's Assets '07 paper is a controlled psychophysical study of how blind and sighted users compare relative magnitude using a PHANToM force-feedback device — the workhorse haptic input-output device of the era. The motivating problem is practical: accessibility…

  haptics · visual impairment · blindness · multimodal · psychophysics

• Designing Auditory Displays to Facilitate Object Localization in Virtual Haptic 3D Environments

  Koen Crommentuijn, Fredrik Winberg · 2006 · Proceedings of the 8th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (Assets '06)

  This paper investigates five different auditory display designs to help blind users locate objects in a virtual haptic 3D environment explored with a PHANToM Desktop haptic device. While haptic devices give visually impaired users the ability to explore virtual 3D spaces by…

  auditory display · sonification · haptic feedback · virtual environment · blindness

• A General HCI Framework of Sonification Applications

  Ag Asri Ag Ibrahim, Andy Hunt · 2006 · Proceedings of the 8th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (Assets '06)

  This paper proposes a general HCI framework for understanding and evaluating sonification applications — software that uses non-speech sound to represent data or information. The authors define sonification as having three main elements: Goal (for understanding), Method (how to…

  sonification · auditory display · HCI framework · usability inspection · parameter mapping

• Task Analysis for Sonification Applications Usability Evaluation

  Ag Asri Ag Ibrahim · 2006 · Proceedings of the 8th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (Assets '06)

  This poster paper from University Malaysia Sabah and the University of York proposes a task analysis framework for evaluating the usability of sonification applications — software that transforms data into sound representations. The author argues that while usability evaluation…

  sonification · task analysis · usability inspection · auditory display · accessibility evaluation

• Using an Audio Interface to Assist Users Who are Visually Impaired with Steering Tasks

  Robert F. Cohen, Valerie Haven, Jessica A. Lanzoni, Arthur Meacham, Joelle Skaff, Michael Wissell · 2006 · Proceedings of the 8th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (Assets '06)

  This paper presents results from an ongoing study of PLUMB (exPLoring graphs at UMB), a software system that uses audio feedback and a pen-based Tablet PC interface to make relational graphs and diagrams accessible to users who are blind. Graphs — consisting of vertices (nodes)…

  visual impairment · sonification · graph accessibility · audio interface · tablet PC

• PLUMB: An Interface for Users Who are Blind to Display, Create, and Modify Graphs

  Matt Calder, Robert F. Cohen, Jessica Lanzoni, Yun Xu · 2006 · Proceedings of the 8th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (Assets '06)

  This demonstration paper presents the latest version of PLUMB (exPLoring graphs at UMB), extending it beyond passive graph exploration to include the ability for blind and sighted users to create and modify graphs. The original PLUMB system displayed drawn graphs on a Tablet PC…

  visual impairment · graph accessibility · sonification · audio interface · tablet PC

• iSonic: Interactive Sonification for Non-visual Data Exploration

  Haixia Zhao, Catherine Plaisant, Ben Shneiderman · 2005 · Proceedings of the 7th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (Assets '05)

  This paper presents iSonic, an interactive sonification tool developed at the University of Maryland Human-Computer Interaction Lab that enables vision-impaired users to explore geo-referenced statistical data such as population distribution, crime rates, or election results by…

  sonification · data visualization · visual impairment · auditory display · non-visual interaction

• PLUMB: Displaying Graphs to the Blind Using an Active Auditory Interface

  Robert F. Cohen, Rui Yu, Arthur Meacham, Joelle Skaff · 2005 · Proceedings of the 7th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (Assets '05)

  This short paper presents PLUMB (exPLoring graphs at UMB), a system developed at UMass Boston that enables blind users to explore relational graphs through an active auditory interface on a tablet PC. The system addresses a fundamental barrier in computer science education: many…

  sonification · graph accessibility · blindness · auditory interface · computer science 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

• Auditory and Tactile Interfaces for Representing the Visual Effects on the Web

  Chieko Asakawa, Hironobu Takagi, Shuichi Ino, Tohru Ifukube · 2002 · Proceedings of the Fifth International ACM Conference on Assistive Technologies (Assets 02)

  This paper from IBM Japan and Hokkaido University explores how blind users can perceive the visual structure and emphasis effects of web pages through auditory and tactile interfaces. The researchers identified a critical gap: modern web pages increasingly use visual effects…

  sonification · tactile interface · blindness · web accessibility · nonvisual interaction

• 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

• Reading and Writing Mathematics: The MAVIS Project

  A. I. Karshmer, G. Gupta, S. Geiiger, C. Weaver · 1998 · Proceedings of the Third International ACM Conference on Assistive Technologies (Assets '98)

  This paper from New Mexico State University presents the MAVIS (Mathematics Accessible to Visually Impaired Students) project, an NSF-funded effort to develop comprehensive tools for bidirectional communication of mathematics between blind students and sighted instructors. The…

  mathematical accessibility · STEM accessibility · Nemeth code · LaTeX · blindness

• Lessons from Developing Audio HTML Interfaces

  Frankie James · 1998 · Proceedings of the Third International ACM Conference on Assistive Technologies (Assets '98)

  This paper presents the AHA (Audio HTML Access) framework, a set of principles for choosing sounds to use in audio-based HTML interfaces designed for blind and visually impaired users. The research builds on earlier work at Stanford University exploring how web content can be…

  audio interfaces · non-visual web access · sonification · speech synthesis · blind users

• Touching and Hearing GUIs: Design Issues for the PC-Access System

  Christophe Ramstein, Odile Martial, Aude Dufresne, Michel Carignan, Patrick Chassé, Philippe Mabilleau · 1996 · Proceedings of the Second Annual ACM Conference on Assistive Technologies (Assets '96)

  This 1996 paper from Canada's Centre for Information Technology Innovation presents PC-Access, a pioneering multimodal system that combines haptic (touch) and auditory feedback to make Microsoft Windows graphical user interfaces accessible to visually impaired users. The core…

  haptic technology · force feedback · multimodal interface · GUI accessibility · blind users

• 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

• Enhancing Scanning Input with Non-Speech Sounds

  Stephen A. Brewster, Veli-Pekka Raty, Atte Kortekangas · 1996 · Proceedings of the Second Annual ACM Conference on Assistive Technologies (Assets '96)

  This paper proposes adding structured non-speech sounds (earcons) to scanning input systems used by people with severe motor disabilities who can only operate a single switch. Scanning input works by sequentially highlighting items in a grid; the user presses their switch when…

  scanning input · earcons · sonification · auditory display · switch access