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• Comparing Natural Language and Vibro-Audio Modalities for Inclusive STEM Learning with Blind and Low Vision Users

  Justin R. Brown, Stacy A. Doore, Justin K. Dimmel, Norbert Giudice, Nicholas A. Giudice · 2023 · Proceedings of the 25th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS 2023)

  This study evaluates a multimodal touchscreen diagram system (MDS v 2.0) built on an iPhone that provides blind and low vision (BLV) users with two non-visual methods for accessing graphical STEM content: natural language (NL) descriptions delivered via VoiceOver text-to-speech,…

  blind and low vision · STEM accessibility · data visualization · haptic technology · multimodal interaction

• Screen or No Screen? Lessons Learnt from a Real-World Deployment Study of Using Voice Assistants With and Without Touchscreen for Older Adults

  Zhenyu Chen, Yijun Lin, Jiaxin Li, Qiuchen Qian, Mingzhe Li, Jikun Peng, Yuhang Zhao · 2023 · ASSETS 2023: The 25th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility

  This paper presents a 40-day within-subjects deployment study examining how older adults interact with voice assistants (VAs) with and without touchscreen capability. Sixteen participants (mean age 82.5 years), all living independently, used an Amazon Echo Dot (voice-only) and…

  voice assistants · older adults · smart speakers · smart displays · touchscreen

• Understanding the Touchscreen-based Nonvisual Target Acquisition Task Performance of Screen Reader Users

  Hwayeon Joh, Yun Jung Lee, Uran Oh · 2022 · Proceedings of the 19th International Web for All Conference (W4A 2022)

  This study investigates how screen reader users find and select targets on a smartphone touchscreen without visual cues, examining the effects of screen size, target size, and the ratio between them. Twelve participants with visual impairments (three totally blind, three with…

  touchscreen · screen readers · target acquisition · mobile accessibility · visual impairment

• Ally: Understanding Text Messaging to Build a Better Onscreen Keyboard for Blind People

  Danielle Lottridge, Chris Yoon, Darren Burton, Chester Wang, Jofish Kaye · 2022 · ACM Transactions on Accessible Computing

  This research presents Ally, a smartphone onscreen keyboard designed specifically for blind users who need to enter text messages when voice input or external keyboards are unavailable. The authors recognized that blind smartphone users employ heterogeneous input methods—voice…

  blindness · text entry · mobile accessibility · keyboard design · VoiceOver

• Input Accessibility: A Large Dataset and Summary Analysis of Age, Motor Ability and Input Performance

  Leah Findlater, Lotus Zhang · 2020 · Proceedings of the 22nd International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS 2020)

  This University of Washington study makes two key contributions to understanding how age and motor ability affect computer input performance: a large open dataset of mouse and touchscreen input traces from over 700 participants, and a summary analysis of mouse input data from…

  motor impairment · mouse input · touchscreen · older adults · physical accessibility

• "Maps are hard for me": Identifying How Older Adults Struggle with Mobile Maps

  Ja Eun Yu, Debaleena Chattopadhyay · 2020 · ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS)

  This short paper from the University of Illinois at Chicago examines how older adults (aged 60+) use Google Maps on their own mobile devices and identifies the specific accessibility challenges they encounter. While smartphone ownership among US adults aged 65+ grew from 18% in…

  older adults · mobile accessibility · mobile maps · touchscreen · cognitive accessibility

• VectorEntry: Text Entry Mechanism Using Handheld Touch-Enabled Mobile Devices for People with Visual Impairments

  Debasis Samanta, Tuhin Chakraborty · 2020 · ACM Transactions on Accessible Computing

  This research develops VectorEntry, a gesture-based text entry system for touchscreen mobile devices designed specifically for people with visual impairments. The authors conducted two preliminary studies to understand how users with visual impairments perform directional…

  visual impairment · blindness · text entry · mobile accessibility · touchscreen

• A Comparison of Touchscreen and Mouse for Real-World and Abstract Tasks with Older Adults

  Sung-Hee Kim, Kailun Zhang, Joanna McGrenere, Kellogg S. Booth, Claudia Jacova · 2020 · ACM Transactions on Accessible Computing

  This study investigates whether input device choice (touchscreen vs. mouse) affects performance on computerized cognitive tests for older adults, with implications for the C-TOC (Cognitive Testing on Computer) project developing self-administered online cognitive screening. As…

  older adults · aging · touchscreen · input devices · cognitive testing

• AudioFunctions.web: Multimodal Exploration of Mathematical Function Graphs

  Dragan Ahmetovic, Cristian Bernareggi, João Guerreiro, Sergio Mascetti, Anna Capietto · 2019 · Proceedings of the 16th International Web for All Conference (W4A)

  This full research paper presents AudioFunctions.web, a web application that enables blind and visually impaired people to explore mathematical function graphs through a combination of sonification, earcons, and speech synthesis. The system is the platform-independent successor…

  sonification · mathematics accessibility · visual impairment · blindness · STEM accessibility

• The Design Space of Nonvisual Word Completion

  Hugo Nicolau, Andre Rodrigues, Andre Santos, Tiago Guerreiro, Kyle Montague, Joao Guerreiro · 2019 · Proceedings of the 21st International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS 2019)

  This paper presents the first design space for nonvisual word completion on mobile devices, addressing a gap where word completion interfaces — ubiquitous in sighted mobile typing — remain poorly designed for screen reader users. While sighted users can glance at three…

  blindness · text entry · mobile accessibility · screen readers · word prediction

• Effects of Aging on Small Target Selection with Touch Input

  Afroza Sultana, Karyn Moffatt · 2019 · ACM Transactions on Accessible Computing

  This study provides a detailed analysis of age-related touch selection errors on small touchscreen devices, extending prior work on mouse and pen interaction to finger touch input. Twenty older adults (ages 67-81, M=73.3) and sixteen younger adults (ages 22-35, M=28.9) completed…

  older adults · aging · touchscreen · mobile accessibility · target selection

• Investigating Laboratory and Everyday Typing Performance of Blind Users

  Hugo Nicolau, Kyle Montague, Tiago Guerreiro, André Rodrigues, Vicki L. Hanson · 2017 · ACM Transactions on Accessible Computing (TACCESS)

  This paper presents the first longitudinal study comparing blind users' touchscreen typing performance in laboratory versus everyday real-world settings. Over 12 weeks, five novice blind smartphone users participated in eight weekly laboratory sessions while also having their…

  visual impairment · text entry · touchscreen · mobile accessibility · longitudinal study

• On the Evaluation of Novel Sonification Techniques for Non-Visual Shape Exploration

  Sergio Mascetti, Andrea Gerino, Cristian Bernareggi, Lorenzo Picinali · 2017 · ACM Transactions on Accessible Computing (TACCESS)

  This paper proposes and evaluates six novel sonification techniques for enabling blind and visually impaired users to explore and recognize shapes on touchscreen devices, comparing them against two existing techniques from the literature. The motivation is that graphical…

  sonification · visual impairment · STEM accessibility · touchscreen · shape recognition

• The Gest-Rest Family: Exploring Input Possibilities for Wheelchair Armrests

  Patrick Carrington, Jian-Ming Chang, Kevin Chang, Catherine Hornback, Amy Hurst, Shaun K. Kane · 2016 · ACM Transactions on Accessible Computing (TACCESS)

  This paper introduces the Gest-Rest Family, a suite of gesture-based input devices designed to fit over standard power wheelchair armrests, enabling users with upper body motor impairments to interact with computing devices without needing to reach for or hold separate input…

  wheelchair · motor impairment · input device · chairable computing · assistive technology

• Audio-Based Feedback Techniques for Teaching Touchscreen Gestures

  Uran Oh, Stacy Branham, Leah Findlater, Shaun K. Kane · 2015 · ACM Transactions on Accessible Computing (TACCESS)

  This paper proposes and evaluates two complementary audio-based techniques for teaching touchscreen gestures to blind and low-vision users: gesture sonification (mapping finger position to pitch and stereo panning to create an audio representation of the gesture) and corrective…

  visual impairment · touchscreen · gesture learning · sonification · audio feedback

• Eyes-free Exploration of Shapes with Invisible Puzzle

  Andrea Gerino, Lorenzo Picinali, Cristian Bernareggi, Sergio Mascetti · 2015 · ASSETS '15: Proceedings of the 17th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers & Accessibility

  This paper presents Invisible Puzzle Game, an iPhone application that uses sonification techniques to enable people who are blind or visually impaired to explore shapes on touchscreen devices. Image exploration is fundamental for developing visuospatial skills and STEM…

  sonification · blindness · visual impairment · touchscreen · image exploration

• Towards Large Scale Evaluation of Novel Sonification Techniques for Non Visual Shape Exploration

  Andrea Gerino, Lorenzo Picinali, Cristian Bernareggi, Nicolò Alabastro, Sergio Mascetti · 2015 · ASSETS '15: Proceedings of the 17th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers & Accessibility

  This paper presents six sonification techniques for exploring shapes on touchscreen devices and evaluates them through Invisible Puzzle, an iPhone application enabling large-scale unsupervised testing. The research addresses a critical need: people who are blind need access to…

  sonification · blindness · visual impairment · touchscreen · image exploration

• Typing Performance of Blind Users: An Analysis of Touch Behaviors, Learning Effect, and In-Situ Usage

  Hugo Nicolau, Kyle Montague, Tiago Guerreiro, André Rodrigues, Vicki L. Hanson · 2015 · ASSETS '15: Proceedings of the 17th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers & Accessibility

  This longitudinal study provides the most detailed analysis to date of how novice blind users learn to type on touchscreen keyboards using the Explore by Touch paradigm (where users slide fingers across the screen to hear key names, then lift to select). Five legally blind…

  visual impairment · touchscreen · text entry · mobile accessibility · screen reader

• Getting Smartphones to Talkback: Understanding the Smartphone Adoption Process of Blind Users

  André Rodrigues, Kyle Montague, Hugo Nicolau, Tiago Guerreiro · 2015 · ASSETS '15: Proceedings of the 17th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers & Accessibility

  This paper presents an eight-week longitudinal study investigating how novice blind users adopt touchscreen smartphones, transitioning from traditional feature phones. The researchers recruited five legally blind participants (ages 23-55) who had never used a touchscreen…

  blindness · screen readers · mobile accessibility · TalkBack · smartphone adoption

• Technology for Supporting Care Staff in Residential Homes

  Gemma Webster, Vicki L. Hanson · 2014 · ACM Transactions on Accessible Computing

  This paper addresses a neglected population in accessibility research: care staff who provide day-to-day support to residents in care homes, particularly those with dementia. While technology has been developed to support healthcare administrators, medical staff, and people with…

  dementia · residential care · care staff · person-centered care · digital biography

• Accessibility in Context: Understanding the Truly Mobile Experience of Smartphone Users with Motor Impairments

  Maia Naftali, Leah Findlater · 2014 · ASSETS '14: Proceedings of the 16th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers & Accessibility

  This paper moves beyond lab-based studies to investigate how people with motor impairments actually use smartphones in their daily lives, particularly outside the home. The research combines two studies: an online survey of 16 smartphone users with motor impairments (conditions…

  motor impairments · mobile accessibility · smartphones · touchscreen · situational impairments

• Motor-Impaired Touchscreen Interactions in the Wild

  Kyle Montague, Hugo Nicolau, Vicki L. Hanson · 2014 · ASSETS '14: Proceedings of the 16th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers & Accessibility

  This paper examines how touchscreen interaction performance varies over time for people with motor impairments, moving beyond snapshot lab studies to a four-week in-the-wild evaluation. Nine participants with conditions including Parkinson's disease, essential tremor, spinal…

  motor impairments · touchscreen · mobile accessibility · gesture recognition · Parkinson's disease

• 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

• VBGhost: A Braille-Based Educational Smartphone Game for Children

  Lauren R. Milne, Cynthia L. Bennett, Richard E. Ladner · 2013 · Proceedings of the 15th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (Assets '13)

  This short paper presents VBGhost, an accessible educational smartphone game for blind and low vision children that reinforces Braille literacy through gameplay. The game is based on Ghost, a word-building game where players take turns adding letters to a growing word fragment…

  braille · mobile accessibility · game accessibility · blind children · education

• The Feasibility of Eyes-Free Touchscreen Keyboard Typing

  Keith Vertanen, Haythem Memmi, Per Ola Kristensson · 2013 · Proceedings of the 15th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS)

  This poster paper proposes a novel approach to eyes-free touchscreen typing where users imagine a QWERTY keyboard somewhere on the device and tap out an entire sentence without seeing the keyboard and without receiving any intermediate feedback about letters or words typed. This…

  visual impairment · text entry · eyes-free interaction · touchscreen · keyboard