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• Wizard-of-Oz evaluation of speech-driven web browsing interface for people with vision impairments

  Vikas Ashok, Yevgen Borodin, Svetlana Stoyanchev, Yuri Puzis, I. V. Ramakrishnan · 2014 · Proceedings of the 11th Web for All Conference (W4A)

  This paper presents a Wizard-of-Oz study with 24 blind participants to evaluate the usability and effectiveness of speech-driven web browsing as an alternative to traditional keyboard-based screen reader interaction. The study was motivated by three key shortcomings of current…

  blindness · screen readers · speech interface · voice interface · web navigation

• JustSpeak: enabling universal voice control on Android

  Yu Zhong, T. V. Raman, Casey Burkhardt, Fadi Biadsy, Jeffrey P. Bigham · 2014 · Proceedings of the 11th Web for All Conference (W4A)

  This paper introduces JustSpeak, a universal voice control system for Android that works across all applications without requiring any developer intervention. Unlike Google Now or Siri, which only support pre-defined commands for specific apps, JustSpeak dynamically constructs…

  voice interface · mobile accessibility · blindness · motor accessibility · Android

• Can a Blind Person Understand Your World?

  Chieko Asakawa · 2014 · Proceedings of the 11th Web for All Conference (W4A)

  This keynote paper by Chieko Asakawa of IBM Research presents a vision for the next frontier of accessibility for blind people: moving from digital information access to real-world understanding through cognitive computing. Asakawa charts the exponential growth of accessible…

  blindness · cognitive assistance · image recognition · computer vision · machine learning

• Predictive, Accessible Web Automation: A Longitudinal Study

  Yury Puzis, Yevgen Borodin, I.V. Ramakrishnan · 2014 · Proceedings of the 11th Web for All Conference (W4A)

  This paper presents a six-week longitudinal pilot study of Automation Assistant, a predictive web automation system designed to improve non-visual web browsing for blind users. The core problem is that screen readers force users to navigate web pages sequentially — a…

  screen readers · web automation · blindness · non-visual web access · adaptive interfaces

• Haptic 3D Surface Representation of Table-Based Data for People With Visual Impairments

  Jonas Braier, Katharina Lattenkamp, Benjamin Räthel, Sandra Schering, Michael Wojatzki, Benjamin Weyers · 2014 · ACM Transactions on Accessible Computing

  This paper introduces "relief charts"—3D surface representations of standard data visualizations (bar graphs, pie charts, scatter plots, radar charts) designed to make complex tabular data accessible to people with visual impairments. The approach is grounded in neuroscientific…

  visual impairment · haptic interfaces · data visualization · inclusive education · 3D printing

• Tactile Graphics with a Voice: Using QR Codes to Access Text in Tactile Graphics

  Catherine M. Baker, Lauren R. Milne, Jeffrey Scofield, Cynthia L. Bennett, Richard E. Ladner · 2014 · ASSETS '14: Proceedings of the 16th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers & Accessibility

  This paper presents Tactile Graphics with a Voice (TGV), a system that makes text labels in tactile graphics accessible by replacing Braille labels with QR codes that can be scanned and read aloud using a smartphone. The motivation is significant: while tactile graphics are…

  visual impairment · blindness · tactile graphics · QR codes · Braille

• Headlock: A Wearable Navigation Aid that Helps Blind Cane Users Traverse Large Open Spaces

  Alexander Fiannaca, Ilias Apostolopoulous, Eelke Folmer · 2014 · ASSETS '14: Proceedings of the 16th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers & Accessibility

  This paper presents HEADLOCK, a navigation aid for optical head-mounted displays (OHMDs) like Google Glass that helps blind cane users traverse large open spaces—environments that are particularly challenging because they lack the tactile features (walls, corridors, floor…

  visual impairment · blindness · navigation · wayfinding · wearable technology

• Text-to-Speeches: Evaluating the Perception of Concurrent Speech by Blind People

  João Guerreiro, Daniel Gonçalves · 2014 · ASSETS '14: Proceedings of the 16th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers & Accessibility

  This paper investigates whether blind people can leverage the Cocktail Party Effect—the human ability to focus on one speech source among several while still detecting relevant content in the background—to more efficiently scan digital information. Screen readers present content…

  visual impairment · blindness · screen readers · speech perception · cocktail party effect

• OS-Level Surface Haptics for Touch-Screen Accessibility

  Suhong Jin, Joe Mullenbach, Craig Shultz, J. Edward Colgate, Anne Marie Piper · 2014 · Proceedings of the 16th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers & Accessibility (ASSETS)

  This demonstration paper introduces an operating system-level implementation of surface haptic feedback for Android tablets, built on the TPad Tablet platform developed at Northwestern University. The TPad combines a standard 7-inch Android tablet with a variable friction haptic…

  haptic feedback · touchscreen accessibility · surface haptics · variable friction · assistive technology

• AccessBraille: Tablet-based Braille Entry

  Stephanie Ludi, Michael Timbrook, Piper Chester · 2014 · Proceedings of the 16th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers & Accessibility (ASSETS)

  This paper presents AccessBraille, an iOS framework that provides a virtual Braille keyboard for iPad applications. The system is designed as a reusable framework that any iOS developer can integrate into their apps, rather than being a standalone application. The…

  braille · tablet · iOS accessibility · text entry · blindness

• Evaluating the Accessibility of Line Graphs through Textual Summaries for Visually Impaired Users

  Priscilla Moraes, Gabriel Sina, Kathleen McCoy, Sandra Carberry · 2014 · Proceedings of the 16th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers & Accessibility (ASSETS)

  This paper presents the SIGHT (Summarizing Information GrapHics Textually) system, which automatically generates natural language summaries of line graphs found in online popular media articles such as newspapers and magazines. The system addresses a persistent accessibility…

  data visualization · natural language generation · information graphics · blindness · screen readers

• Capti-Speak: A Speech-Enabled Accessible Web Interface

  Vikas Ashok · 2014 · Proceedings of the 16th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers & Accessibility (ASSETS)

  This paper presents Capti-Speak, a speech-augmented screen reader interface for the web that allows blind users to issue voice commands alongside traditional keyboard shortcuts. Built on top of the Capti web browsing application (which provides a JAWS-like screen reader…

  screen readers · speech recognition · voice interface · web accessibility · blindness

• Does It Look Beautiful? Communicating Aesthetic Information about Artwork to the Visually Impaired

  Caroline Marie Galbraith · 2014 · Proceedings of the 16th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers & Accessibility (ASSETS)

  This paper explores how aesthetic information about visual art is communicated to people who are visually impaired, based on observational data from a study where blind individuals and sighted companions explored an art gallery together on the University of Maryland, Baltimore…

  visual art · museum accessibility · blindness · image description · communication

• Design of and Subjective Response to On-body Input for People with Visual Impairments

  Uran Oh, Leah Findlater · 2014 · Proceedings of the 16th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers & Accessibility (ASSETS)

  This paper investigates on-body input — using the skin as an input surface — as an alternative or complement to touchscreen interaction for people with visual impairments. Since blind users do not need the visual display of a mobile device, on-body input offers potential…

  mobile accessibility · on-body interaction · gesture interaction · blindness · wearable technology

• Accessible Web Chat Interface

  Valentyn Melnyk · 2014 · Proceedings of the 16th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers & Accessibility (ASSETS)

  This paper addresses the accessibility of web chat widgets — ubiquitous real-time communication tools embedded in web applications for customer support, social interaction, and service delivery. Screen readers like JAWS, VoiceOver, and NVDA do not reliably recognise widgets that…

  web accessibility · screen readers · dynamic content · ARIA · web widgets

• The Blind Driver Challenge: Steering Using Haptic Cues

  Burkay Sucu, Eelke Folmer · 2014 · Proceedings of the 16th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers & Accessibility (ASSETS)

  This paper presents a haptic steering interface that enables blind individuals to steer a vehicle on a track using vibrotactile cues, addressing the National Federation of the Blind's 2004 "Blind Driver Challenge." While self-driving vehicles could transform mobility for blind…

  blindness · haptic feedback · mobility · autonomous vehicles · driving

• Designing a Text Entry Multimodal Keypad for Blind Users of Touchscreen Mobile Phones

  Maria Claudia Buzzi, Marina Buzzi, Barbara Leporini, Amaury Trujillo · 2014 · Proceedings of the 16th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers & Accessibility (ASSETS)

  This paper presents MTITK (Multimodal Text Input Touchscreen Keypad), a software-only text entry system for blind users of touchscreen phones that combines the familiar 12-key telephone keypad layout with multimodal audio-tactile feedback. The work is grounded in the personal…

  mobile accessibility · text entry · blindness · multimodal interaction · haptic feedback

• Expression: A Google Glass Based Assistive Solution for Social Signal Processing

  ASM Iftekhar Anam, Shahinur Alam, Mohammed Yeasin · 2014 · Proceedings of the 16th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers & Accessibility (ASSETS)

  This demo paper presents Expression, a Google Glass-based assistive system that enables blind and visually impaired users to perceive non-verbal social signals during face-to-face conversations. Limited access to non-verbal cues — facial expressions, gestures, body language — is…

  blindness · wearable technology · facial expression recognition · social interaction · Google Glass

• A Google Glass App to Help the Blind in Small Talk

  Mohammad Iftekhar Tanveer, Mohammed Ehsan Hoque · 2014 · Proceedings of the 16th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers & Accessibility (ASSETS)

  This demo paper presents a Google Glass prototype that helps blind individuals initiate small talk by automatically analysing a scene to detect the number of people present, their approximate ages, and gender distribution, then synthesising this information as speech feedback…

  blindness · Google Glass · wearable technology · computer vision · face detection

• New Tools for Automating Tactile Geographic Map Translation

  Nizar Bouhlel, Anis Rojbi · 2014 · Proceedings of the 16th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers & Accessibility (ASSETS)

  This demo paper presents a Matlab-based software tool that semi-automates the conversion of visual geographic maps into tactile versions suitable for blind students. Tactile graphics are the most effective modality for blind people to comprehend graphical images, but converting…

  tactile graphics · blindness · braille · image processing · OCR

• BraillePlay: Educational Smartphone Games for Blind Children

  Lauren R. Milne, Cynthia L. Bennett, Richard E. Ladner, Shiri Azenkot · 2014 · Proceedings of the 16th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers & Accessibility (ASSETS 2014)

  This paper presents BraillePlay, a suite of four educational smartphone games designed to teach Braille character encodings to blind children aged 5 and older. The games are built on VBraille, a method for displaying Braille characters on a touchscreen where the phone vibrates…

  blindness · Braille literacy · educational games · children · mobile accessibility

• From Screen Reading to Aural Glancing: Towards Instant Access to Key Page Sections

  Prathik Gadde, Davide Bolchini · 2014 · Proceedings of the 16th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers & Accessibility (ASSETS 2014)

  This paper addresses a fundamental problem in screen reader navigation: while sighted users can glance at a web page to instantly understand its structure and locate relevant sections, screen reader users are forced to listen to content serially, making navigation of complex…

  screen readers · web navigation · blindness · visual impairment · e-commerce accessibility

• Tracking @stemxcomet: Teaching Programming to Blind Students via 3D Printing, Crisis Management, and Twitter

  Shaun K. Kane, Jeffrey P. Bigham · 2014 · ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education

  This paper describes the design and execution of a four-day programming workshop for blind and visually impaired high school students, conducted as part of the National Federation of the Blind's STEM-X summer science camp. Nine students (grades 8-12) learned Ruby programming…

  accessible programming · computer science education · blindness · visual impairment · 3D printing

23 results.