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• Mapping Movies: A Mind-Map Approach to Aphasia-Friendly Video

  Shayan Bali, Alexandre Nevsky, Filip Bircanin, Timothy Neate · 2026 · Extended Abstracts of the 2026 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI EA '26)

  Bali, Nevsky, Bircanin, and Neate (King's College London) target an under-served corner of media accessibility: viewers with aphasia and other complex communication needs (CCNs) for whom subtitles, audio description, and existing simplified-media interventions do not…

  aphasia · complex communication needs · video accessibility · cognitive accessibility · mind maps

• Collaborative AI Scaffolding for Structured Drawing in Dementia Care: A Feasibility Study

  Hui-Lien Huang, I-Ping Chen · 2026 · Extended Abstracts of the 2026 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI EA ’26)

  This CHI 2026 Extended Abstract reports a one-on-one feasibility study of a tablet-based AI drawing tool for older adults with dementia, conducted at a day-care centre in Taiwan. The system pairs a Google Gemini vision-language model (VLM) with Azure text-to-speech to deliver…

  dementia · older adults · human-AI collaboration · human-in-the-loop · vision-language model

• Barriers to Employment: The Deaf Multimedia Authoring Tax

  Christian Vogler, Abraham Glasser, Raja Kushalnagar, Matthew Seita, Mariana Arroyo Chavez, Keith Delk, Paige DeVries, Molly Feanny, Bernard Thompson, James Waller · 2025 · Proceedings of the 22nd International Web for All Conference (W4A)

  This paper from Gallaudet University describes through firsthand experience the enormous additional burden — termed the "deaf multimedia authoring tax" — that deaf and hard of hearing (DHH) people face when creating accessible multimedia content for the workplace. Written by a…

  deaf and hard of hearing · sign language · content creation · workplace accessibility · captioning

• Beyond Sight: Empowering Visually Impaired Users with Audible Graphs

  Wajdi Aljedaani, Uday Kiran Chimpiri, Durgasantosh Gaddam, Vaseem Ahammed Shaik, Yaswitha Karasala, Marcelo M. Eler · 2024 · Proceedings of the 21st International Web for All Conference (W4A)

  This technical note presents a tool designed to make data visualizations accessible to people with visual impairments by converting them into audible and textual representations. The tool addresses a significant gap: while data visualization is central to modern information…

  data visualization · visual impairments · sonification · screen readers · optical character recognition

• Machine Generation of Audio Description for Blind and Visually Impaired People

  Virgínia P. Campos, Tiago M. U. de Araújo, Guido L. de Souza Filho, Luiz M. G. Gonçalves · 2023 · ACM Transactions on Accessible Computing

  This paper presents an extension to CineAD, a system for automatically generating audio descriptions (AD) for videos. The authors address a critical accessibility gap: most videos, films, and cultural programming lack audio descriptions, leaving blind and visually impaired (BVI)…

  audio description · blind and visually impaired · computer vision · machine learning · video accessibility

• Math-to-Speech Effectiveness and Appreciation for People with Developmental Learning Disorders

  Chiara Magosso, Dragan Ahmetovic, Tiziana Armano, Cristian Bernareggi, Sandro Coriasco, Adriano Sofia, Luisa Testa, Anna Capietto · 2022 · Proceedings of the 19th International Web for All Conference (W4A 2022)

  This short paper presents a user study with 19 Italian university students who have Developmental Learning Disorders (DLD), examining whether text-to-speech (TTS) access to mathematical formulae improves their ability to memorize math syntax and their subjective experience…

  developmental learning disorders · text-to-speech · mathematics accessibility · dyscalculia · dyslexia

• Auditory feedback to compensate audible instructions to support people with visual impairment

  Gabriele Galimberti · 2021 · ASSETS '21: The 23rd International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility

  This doctoral consortium extended abstract addresses a practical challenge faced by people with visual impairments who rely on auditory feedback from mobile devices: background noise in real-world mobility contexts can mask device audio output, degrading the information it…

  visual impairment · auditory feedback · sonification · mobile accessibility · navigation

• The Efficacy of Collaborative Authoring of Video Scene Descriptions

  Rosiana Natalie, Jolene Loh, Huei Suen Tan, Joshua Tseng, Ian Luke Yi-Ren Chan, Ebrima H Jarjue, Hernisa Kacorri, Kotaro Hara · 2021 · ASSETS '21: The 23rd International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility

  The vast majority of online video content remains inaccessible to people with visual impairments because it lacks audio descriptions — verbal commentaries that depict visual information in scenes. Professional audio description services cost US$12 to US$75 per video minute and…

  audio description · video accessibility · visual impairment · crowdsourcing · collaborative authoring

• Voice Creator: Giving Customized Voice to the Voiceless for Online Communication

  Hyeon Jeong Byeon · 2021 · Proceedings of the 23rd International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS)

  This extended abstract presents Voice Creator, a web-based prototype that allows people with speech or hearing impairments to create customized synthetic voices for online communication. The work is motivated by research showing that voice-based communication increases intimacy…

  speech synthesis · voice customization · speech impairment · hearing impairment · computer-mediated communication

• Expanding a Large Inclusive Study of Human Listening Rates

  Danielle Bragg, Katharina Reinecke, Richard E. Ladner · 2021 · ACM Transactions on Accessible Computing

  This study presents the first large-scale, inclusive online investigation of human listening rates for fast synthetic speech, conducted via the LabintheWild crowdsourcing platform over 12 months with 1,409 participants. The research aimed to understand how fast people can…

  screen readers · synthetic speech · text-to-speech · listening rates · auditory processing

• Web-ALAP: A Web-based LaTeX Editor for Blind Individuals

  Safa Arooj, Shaban Zulfiqar, Muhammad Qasim Hunain, Suleman Shahid, Asim Karim · 2020 · Proceedings of the 22nd International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS '20)

  This paper presents Web-ALAP (Web-Accessible LaTeX-based Authoring and Presentation), an open-source, web-based LaTeX editor designed specifically for blind and visually impaired users. The system addresses a critical gap in STEM accessibility: while LaTeX is widely used in…

  blindness · STEM accessibility · mathematics accessibility · screen readers · web accessibility

• Assistive Debugging to Support Accessible LaTeX Based Document Authoring

  Ahtsham Manzoor, Murayyiam Parvez, Suleman Shahid, Asim Karim · 2018 · Proceedings of the 20th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS '18)

  This demonstration paper presents ALAP (Accessible LaTeX-based Authoring and Presentation), an open-source extension to the TeXlipse Eclipse plugin that makes LaTeX document authoring more accessible for blind researchers and writers. LaTeX is widely used for scientific and…

  mathematical accessibility · LaTeX · blind and low vision · text-to-speech · document authoring

• Math Melodies: Supporting Visually Impaired Primary School Students in Learning Math

  Dragan Ahmetovic, Valeria Alampi, Cristian Bernareggi, Andrea Gerino, Sergio Mascetti · 2017 · Proceedings of the 14th International Web for All Conference (W4A)

  This demonstration paper presents Math Melodies, a free iPad application designed to teach mathematics to primary school children who are blind or visually impaired, while simultaneously engaging sighted peers. Mathematics education poses particular challenges for visually…

  visual impairment · blindness · education accessibility · mathematics accessibility · children

• ChattyBooks and ChattyBook Service

  Masakazu Suzuki, Katsuhito Yamaguchi · 2017 · Proceedings of the 14th International Web for All Conference (W4A)

  This demonstration paper presents ChattyBooks, a Windows application that converts STEM content in DAISY/accessible EPUB3 format into audio-embedded HTML5 with JavaScript, enabling playback in any web browser on any platform without requiring specialized DAISY/EPUB3 players. The…

  STEM accessibility · DAISY · EPUB · MathML · mathematics accessibility

• 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

• Contextual Language Learning with Capti ESL Assistant

  Yevgen Borodin, Yury Puzis, Andrii Soviak, Vikas Ashok, Andrii Melnyk, I. V. Ramakrishnan · 2016 · Proceedings of the 13th International Web for All Conference (W4A)

  This paper presents Capti ESL Assistant, a web application designed to help English language learners develop reading and listening skills simultaneously while remaining accessible to users with print disabilities including dyslexia and vision loss. Built on the Capti Narrator…

  language accessibility · print disabilities · text-to-speech · dyslexia · education accessibility

• A Web Based Multi-Linguists Symbol-to-Text AAC Application

  Chaohai Ding, Nawar Halabi, Lama Al-Zaben, Yunjia Li, E. A. Draffan, Mike Wald · 2015 · Proceedings of the 12th International Web for All Conference (W4A)

  This paper presents Symbol Dragoman, a web-based augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) application that enables users who have no spoken language to communicate in both Arabic and English using pictographic symbols. The core problem addressed is that existing AAC…

  AAC · augmentative and alternative communication · symbol communication · multilingual accessibility · Arabic

• READ: A (Research) Platform for Evaluating Non-visual Access Methods to Digital Documents

  Laurent Sorin, Julie Lemarié, Mustapha Mojahid · 2015 · ASSETS '15: Proceedings of the 17th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers & Accessibility

  READ (Documents Architecture REstitution) is a configurable research platform for evaluating alternative methods of non-visual access to digital documents. The system addresses a well-documented problem: despite extensive functionality, screen readers remain frustrating and…

  document accessibility · research platform · non-visual access · screen readers · text-to-speech

• ChatWoz: Chatting through a Wizard of Oz

  Pedro Fialho, Luísa Coheur · 2015 · ASSETS '15: Proceedings of the 17th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers & Accessibility

  ChatWoz is a Wizard of Oz system designed to enable autistic children to interact with caregivers through a virtual avatar. The system was motivated by widely reported cases of autistic children enthusiastically engaging with commercial virtual assistants like Apple's Siri and…

  autism · Wizard of Oz · virtual agent · dialogue systems · child-caregiver interaction

• Faster Text-to-Speeches: Enhancing Blind People's Information Scanning with Faster Concurrent Speech

  João Guerreiro, Daniel Gonçalves · 2015 · ASSETS '15: Proceedings of the 17th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers & Accessibility

  This paper investigates how blind users can scan digital information more efficiently by comparing two approaches: increasing speech rate (the traditional method) versus using concurrent speech (multiple simultaneous voices). The research leverages the "Cocktail Party…

  blindness · screen readers · text-to-speech · speech rate · concurrent speech

• Towards Making Mathematics a First Class Citizen in General Screen Readers

  Volker Sorge, Charles Chen, T. V. Raman, David Tseng · 2014 · Proceedings of the 11th Web for All Conference (W4A)

  This paper presents a comprehensive approach to integrating mathematical speech translation into ChromeVox, Google's open-source screen reader for the Chrome browser and Chrome OS. The authors address the fundamental challenge that mathematical notation on the web exists in…

  screen readers · mathematics accessibility · MathML · ChromeVox · text-to-speech

• Listen to Everything You Want to Read with Capti Narrator

  Yevgen Borodin, Yuri Puzis, Andrii Soviak, James Bouker, Bo Feng, Richard Sicoli, Andrii Melnyk, Valentyn Melnyk, Vikas Ashok, Glenn Dausch, I.V. Ramakrishnan · 2014 · Proceedings of the 11th Web for All Conference (W4A)

  This paper presents Capti Narrator, a cross-platform text-to-speech application developed by Charmtech Labs that enables hands-free consumption of digital content. Unlike traditional screen readers that are tightly coupled to operating system interfaces, Capti is designed as a…

  text-to-speech · print disability · screen reader · mobile accessibility · universal access

• A Mobile Interactive Maps Application for a Visually Impaired Audience

  Nikolaos Kaklanis, Konstantinos Votis, Dimitrios Tzovaras · 2013 · Proceedings of the 10th International Cross-Disciplinary Conference on Web Accessibility (W4A)

  This demo paper presents "Open Touch/Sound Maps," an Android mobile application that makes interactive maps accessible to visually impaired and blind users through multimodal feedback. Web-based spatial information resources like OpenStreetMap are inherently visual, leaving…

  visual impairment · accessible maps · sonification · haptic feedback · mobile accessibility

• Follow That Sound: Using Sonification and Corrective Verbal Feedback to Teach Touchscreen Gestures

  Uran Oh, Shaun K. Kane, Leah Findlater · 2013 · Proceedings of the 15th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (Assets '13)

  This paper proposes and evaluates two techniques for teaching touchscreen gestures to users with visual impairments: gesture sonification (mapping finger position to audio using pitch for the y-axis and stereo panning for the x-axis) and corrective verbal feedback…

  touchscreen accessibility · sonification · gesture learning · blind users · visual impairment

• Universal and Ubiquitous Web Access with Capti

  Yevgen Borodin, Andrii Sovyak, Alexander Dimitriyadi, Yury Puzis, Valentyn Melnyk, Faisal Ahmed, Glenn Dausch, I. V. Ramakrishnan · 2012 · Proceedings of the International Cross-Disciplinary Conference on Web Accessibility (W4A)

  This demo paper presents Capti, a cross-platform web browsing application designed to make web access more usable for both blind and sighted users. Capti addresses two interconnected problems: the inefficiency of traditional screen readers for finding and consuming web content,…

  screen readers · assistive technology · blind and low vision · text-to-speech · universal design