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• On the Intelligibility of Fast Synthesized Speech for Individuals with Early-Onset Blindness

  Amanda Stent, Ann Syrdal, Taniya Mishra · 2011 · Proceedings of the 13th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS 2011)

  This paper reports on a pilot experiment comparing the intelligibility of fast synthesized speech across different text-to-speech (TTS) systems for individuals with early-onset blindness (onset before age seven). People who are blind increasingly use TTS as their primary…

  text-to-speech · screen readers · blindness · speech technology · speech intelligibility

• Evaluating Importance of Facial Expression in American Sign Language and Pidgin Signed English Animations

  Matt Huenerfauth, Pengfei Lu, Andrew Rosenberg · 2011 · Proceedings of the 13th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS 2011)

  This paper presents the first empirical evaluation of the impact of facial expressions on the understandability and perceived quality of American Sign Language (ASL) and Pidgin Signed English (PSE) computer animations. ASL animations have significant accessibility benefits since…

  sign language · sign language animation · deaf accessibility · facial expression · American Sign Language

• Using a Computer Intervention to Support Phonological Awareness Development of Nonspeaking Adults

  Ha Trinh · 2011 · The Proceedings of the 13th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS 2011)

  This short paper presents a pilot study investigating whether a computer-based intervention delivered on an iPad can help adults with severe speech and physical impairments (SSPI) develop phonological awareness — the ability to identify and manipulate the sound structure of…

  phonological awareness · literacy · severe speech and physical impairments · computer-based intervention · iPad

• The PhonicStick: A Joystick to Generate Novel Words Using Phonics

  Rolf Black · 2011 · The Proceedings of the 13th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS 2011)

  This short paper introduces the PhonicStick, a novel joystick-based device that enables non-speaking children to explore letter sounds (phonics) and blend them into words. The motivation stems from a key limitation of existing Voice Output Communication Aids (VOCAs): while VOCAs…

  AAC · phonological awareness · literacy · joystick · cerebral palsy

• Leveraging Large Data Sets for User Requirements Analysis

  Maria K. Wolters, Vicki L. Hanson, Johanna D. Moore · 2011 · The Proceedings of the 13th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS 2011)

  This paper demonstrates a novel methodology for using large-scale demographic surveys to inform the design of accessible technology. Rather than conducting specialized usability studies with small samples, the authors repurpose the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA) — a…

  inclusive design · aging · spoken dialogue systems · telecare · user requirements

• Multi-View Platform: An Accessible Live Classroom Viewing Approach for Low Vision Students

  Raja S. Kushalnagar, Stephanie A. Ludie, Poorna Kushalnagar · 2011 · The Proceedings of the 13th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS 2011)

  This paper presents a Multi-View Platform (MVP) that uses students' personal smartphones and tablets to provide low vision and deaf students with flexible, magnified views of classroom lecture visuals such as presentation slides and whiteboards. The system addresses a…

  low vision · education · classroom accessibility · mobile technology · magnification

• Improving Public Transit Accessibility for Blind Riders: A Train Station Navigation Assistant

  Markus Guentert · 2011 · The Proceedings of the 13th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS 2011)

  This short paper presents a prototype iPhone application designed to help blind people navigate inside train stations — an environment where GPS is unavailable and orientation is particularly challenging. The author's motivation comes from interviews with blind users and a…

  blindness · indoor navigation · public transit · iPhone · wayfinding

• Improving Calibration Time and Accuracy for Situation-Specific Models of Color Differentiation

  David R. Flatla, Carl Gutwin · 2011 · The Proceedings of the 13th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS 2011)

  This paper presents ICD-2, a significantly improved situation-specific model of human color differentiation designed to make personalised color accessibility tools practical for real-world use. Color vision deficiencies (CVDs) affect people's ability to distinguish colors on…

  color vision deficiency · color blindness · color accessibility · calibration · color differentiation

• Humsher: A Predictive Keyboard Operated by Humming

  Ondrej Polacek, Zdenek Mikovec, Adam J. Sporka, Pavel Slavik · 2011 · The Proceedings of the 13th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS 2011)

  This paper presents Humsher, a novel text entry system controlled entirely by humming — short melodic and rhythmic vocal gestures distinguished by pitch (high/low) and duration (short/long). The system targets people with severe upper-limb motor impairments such as quadriplegia…

  text entry · alternative input · assistive technology · motor disability · non-verbal vocal interface

• Navigation and Obstacle Avoidance Help (NOAH) for Older Adults with Cognitive Impairment: A Pilot Study

  Pooja Viswanathan, James J. Little, Alan K. Mackworth, Alex Mihailidis · 2011 · The Proceedings of the 13th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS 2011)

  This paper describes NOAH (Navigation and Obstacle Avoidance Help), an intelligent powered wheelchair system designed to provide adaptive navigation assistance to older adults with cognitive impairment in long-term care settings. An estimated 60-80% of residents in long-term…

  intelligent wheelchair · dementia · cognitive impairment · collision avoidance · wayfinding

• A Mobile Phone Based Personal Narrative System

  Rolf Black, Annalu Waller, Nava Tintarev, Ehud Reiter, Joseph Reddington · 2011 · The Proceedings of the 13th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS 2011)

  This paper describes the development and evaluation of a mobile phone-based data collection system that supports personal narrative for children with severe speech and physical impairments (SSPI). Personal narrative — the ability to tell others about one's experiences — is…

  AAC · personal narrative · cerebral palsy · natural language generation · mobile technology

• The TaskTracker: Assistive Technology for Task Completion

  Victoria E. Hribar · 2011 · Proceedings of the 13th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS 2011)

  This short paper presents the TaskTracker, an Android smartphone application designed to help individuals with cognitive impairments complete everyday tasks by combining time-management and prompting features into a single tool. The author identifies a gap in existing assistive…

  assistive technology · cognitive impairment · task completion · time management · mobile applications

• Fashion for the Blind: A Study of Perspectives

  Michele A. Burton · 2011 · Proceedings of the 13th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS 2011)

  This qualitative study explores how people with vision impairments perceive beauty and make fashion choices, an area largely overlooked in accessibility research which has focused primarily on functional clothing for mobility impairments. The researchers conducted face-to-face…

  blindness · low vision · fashion · clothing design · assistive technology

• Kinerehab: A Kinect-based System for Physical Rehabilitation — A Pilot Study for Young Adults with Motor Disabilities

  Jun-Da Huang · 2011 · Proceedings of the 13th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS 2011)

  This paper presents Kinerehab, a Kinect-based intelligent rehabilitation system designed to assist young adults with motor disabilities in performing physical therapy exercises. Developed in collaboration with physical therapists at the Kaohsiung County Special Education School…

  physical rehabilitation · motor disability · Kinect · motion sensing · cerebral palsy

• Toward 3D Scene Understanding via Audio-description: Kinect-iPad Fusion for the Visually Impaired

  Juan Diego Gomez, Sinan Mohammed, Guido Bologna, Thierry Pun · 2011 · Proceedings of the 13th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS 2011)

  This demonstration paper presents a computer-vision-based framework that combines a Microsoft Kinect 3D depth sensor with an iPad touchscreen to enable visually impaired users to understand the spatial layout of indoor scenes through audio. The system works in several stages:…

  sonification · visual substitution · Kinect · computer vision · blindness

• On the Audio Representation of Radial Direction

  Susumu Harada, Hironobu Takagi, Chieko Asakawa · 2011 · Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI '11)

  This paper proposes a new primitive for auditory displays — radial direction — and evaluates a concrete mapping of vowel-like sounds to eight cardinal and ordinal directions. The authors observe that almost all prior sonification work has mapped data to linear sound properties…

  sonification · auditory display · auditory interface · non-visual interaction · eyes-free interaction

• Sasayaki: Augmented Voice Web Browsing Experience

  Daisuke Sato, Shaojian Zhu, Masatomo Kobayashi, Hironobu Takagi, Chieko Asakawa · 2011 · Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI '11)

  This paper introduces Sasayaki (Japanese for 'whisper'), a prototype that augments the standard screen-reader voice with a second, physically separated synthesised voice that whispers contextually relevant hints — for example 'entering main content', 'skipped the main', 'the…

  screen readers · auditory interface · voice browser · web accessibility · blindness and low vision

• The potential of adaptive interfaces as an accessibility aid for older web users

  David Sloan, Matthew Tylee Atkinson, Colin Machin, Yunqiu Li · 2010 · Proceedings of the 2010 International Cross Disciplinary Conference on Web Accessibility (W4A)

  This paper examines the challenge of supporting web accessibility for older people whose capabilities fluctuate gradually over time due to age-related decline in vision, hearing, dexterity, and cognition. The authors argue that current accessibility solutions — accessible…

  aging · adaptive interfaces · assistive technology · older users · personalization

• Facilita: reading assistance to the functionally illiterate

  Willian Massami Watanabe · 2010 · Proceedings of the 2010 International Cross Disciplinary Conference on Web Accessibility (W4A)

  This doctoral consortium paper presents Facilita, a web application that uses natural language processing (NLP) to automatically simplify Portuguese web content for functionally illiterate users. In Brazil, 21.7% of the population aged 15 and over is classified as functionally…

  literacy · cognitive accessibility · natural language processing · text simplification · readability

• The Spoken Web Application Framework: User Generated Content and Service Creation through Low-End Mobiles

  Arun Kumar, Sheetal K. Agarwal, Priyanka Manwani · 2010 · Proceedings of the 2010 International Cross Disciplinary Conference on Web Accessibility (W4A)

  This paper from IBM Research India presents the Spoken Web Application Framework (SWAF), a platform that expands the definition of "Web" itself to include voice-based hyperlinked content accessible through ordinary telephone calls. At the time of publication, only 22% of the…

  digital divide · voice interface · developing regions · digital inclusion · mobile accessibility

• A Simple Solution: Solution Migration from Disabled to Small Device Context

  Yeliz Yesilada, Tianyi Chen, Simon Harper · 2010 · Proceedings of the 2010 International Cross Disciplinary Conference on Web Accessibility (W4A)

  This paper demonstrates how accessibility solutions developed for motor-impaired desktop users can be migrated to benefit small-device (mobile) users who experience similar input difficulties. The authors had previously replicated a study originally investigating input…

  motor accessibility · mobile accessibility · input methods · situational impairment · error correction

• Application of Traditional Software Testing Methodologies to Web Accessibility

  Cynthia C. Shelly, Mike Barta · 2010 · Proceedings of the 2010 International Cross Disciplinary Conference on Web Accessibility (W4A)

  Written by authors from Microsoft and the University of Washington, this paper argues that the evolution of web content from static documents to dynamic Rich Internet Applications (RIAs) demands a corresponding evolution in accessibility testing methodology — from post-hoc…

  accessibility testing · software development · quality assurance · shift-left accessibility · automated testing

• Exploring Web Accessibility Solutions in Developing Regions as Innovations for the Benefit of All

  Shadi Abou-Zahra, Shawn Lawton Henry · 2010 · Proceedings of the 2010 International Cross Disciplinary Conference on Web Accessibility (W4A)

  Written by two leaders of the W3C Web Accessibility Initiative, this paper explores the particular web accessibility challenges facing people with disabilities in developing regions and argues that solving these challenges will drive innovations benefiting all web users. The…

  Global South accessibility · digital divide · universal design · digital inclusion · multilingual accessibility

• VizWiz: Nearly Real-Time Answers to Visual Questions

  Jeffrey P. Bigham, Chandrika Jayant, Hanjie Ji, Greg Little, Andrew Miller, Robert C. Miller, Aubrey Tatarowicz, Brandyn White, Samuel White, Tom Yeh · 2010 · Proceedings of the 2010 International Cross Disciplinary Conference on Web Accessibility (W4A)

  This paper introduces VizWiz, a pioneering mobile application that enables blind and low-vision people to get nearly real-time answers to visual questions by connecting their smartphone cameras to remote paid workers on Amazon Mechanical Turk. Users take a photo with their…

  blind and low vision · crowdsourcing · assistive technology · mobile accessibility · human computation

• Accessibility Challenges and Tool Features: An IBM Web Developer Perspective

  Shari Trewin, Brian Cragun, Cal Swart, Jonathan Brezin, John Richards · 2010 · Proceedings of the 2010 International Cross Disciplinary Conference on Web Accessibility (W4A)

  This highly cited (50 citations) survey of 49 IBM web developers explores the barriers they face in creating accessible rich internet applications and what features they value in accessibility testing tools. IBM mandates accessibility through Corporate Instruction 162, with a…

  developer awareness · accessibility testing · evaluation tools · software development · accessibility training