Communicating text structure to blind people with Text-To-Speech

International audienceThis paper presents the results of an experiment conducted with nine blind subjects for the evaluation of two audio restitution methods for headings, using Text-To-Speech. We used specialized audio and two voices to demarcate headings. This work is part of a research project which focuses on structural in-formation accessibility for the blind in digital documents

Music and Speech in Auditory Interfaces: When is One Mode More Appropriate Than the Other?

A number of experiments, which have been carried out using non-speech auditory interfaces, are reviewed and the advantages and disadvantages of each are discussed. The possible advantages of using non-speech audio media such as music are discussed – richness of the representations possible, the aesthetic appeal, and the possibilities of such interfaces being able to handle abstraction and consistency across the interface

Tactons: structured tactile messages for non-visual information display

Tactile displays are now becoming available in a form that can be easily used in a user interface. This paper describes a new form of tactile output. Tactons, or tactile icons, are structured, abstract messages that can be used to communicate messages non-visually. A range of different parameters can be used for Tacton construction including: frequency, amplitude and duration of a tactile pulse, plus other parameters such as rhythm and location. Tactons have the potential to improve interaction in a range of different areas, particularly where the visual display is overloaded, limited in size or not available, such as interfaces for blind people or in mobile and wearable devices. This paper describes Tactons, the parameters used to construct them and some possible ways to design them. Examples of where Tactons might prove useful in user interfaces are given

Atlas.txt : Linking Geo-referenced Data to Text for NLG

Peer reviewedPreprin

Websites as Facilities Under ADA Title III

Title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act requires public accommodations—private entities that offer goods or services to the public—to be accessible to individuals with disabilities. There is an ongoing debate about whether Title III applies to websites that offer services to the public, but this debate may be resolved in the coming years by litigation or Department of Justice regulations. Assuming for the sake of argument that Title III will eventually be applied to websites, the next inquiry is what that application should look like. The regulatory definition of “facilities” should be amended to include nonphysical places of public accommodations. This change would open the door to a multilayered approach to accessible websites, wherein existing websites are subject to relatively lax requirements but new and altered websites are subject to stricter requirements

SEMA4A: An ontology for emergency notification systems accessibility

This is the post-print version of the final paper published in Expert Systems with Applications. The published article is available from the link below. Changes resulting from the publishing process, such as peer review, editing, corrections, structural formatting, and other quality control mechanisms may not be reflected in this document. Changes may have been made to this work since it was submitted for publication. Copyright @ 2009 Elsevier B.V.Providing alert communication in emergency situations is vital to reduce the number of victims. Reaching this goal is challenging due to users’ diversity: people with disabilities, elderly and children, and other vulnerable groups. Notifications are critical when an emergency scenario is going to happen (e.g. a typhoon approaching) so the ability to transmit notifications to different kind of users is a crucial feature for such systems. In this work an ontology was developed by investigating different sources: accessibility guidelines, emergency response systems, communication devices and technologies, taking into account the different abilities of people to react to different alarms (e.g. mobile phone vibration as an alarm for deafblind people). We think that the proposed ontology addresses the information needs for sharing and integrating emergency notification messages over distinct emergency response information systems providing accessibility under different conditions and for different kind of users.Ministerio de Educación y Cienci

A first investigation into the effectiveness of Tactons

This paper reports two experiments relating to the design of Tactons (or tactile icons). The first experiment investigated perception of vibro-tactile "roughness" (created using amplitude modulated sinusoids), and the results indicated that roughness could be used as a parameter for constructing Tactons. The second experiment is the first full evaluation of Tactons, and uses three values of roughness identified in the first experiment, along with three rhythms to create a set of Tactons. The results of this experiment showed that Tactons could be a successful means of communicating information in user interfaces, with an overall recognition rate of 71%, and recognition rates of 93% for rhythm and 80% for roughness

TARLING MUSIC AS A MEANS OF MAINTAINING INDIGENOUS JAVANESE LANGUAGE AT NORTHERN COAST (

This paper aims to investigate the existence of traditional music like “tarling” as a means of maintaining indigenous Javanese language at Northern Coast areas (“Pantai Utara” or “Pantura” for short)in the Provinces of West Java and Central Java. The word ‘tarling’ itself stands for guitar and suling—a traditional flute made of bamboo. This kind of music is commonly heard by communities who live in Indramayu and Cirebon (located in the Province of West Java) and those ones in Brebes, Tegal and Slawi (located in the Province of Central Java)People living in those areas get used to communicating in Javanese language with typically strong accent or dialect which other Javanese speakers at the Eastern area—such as: in Semarang, Solo, and Yogyakarta—call it basa ngapak. The way they communicate in Javanese with basa ngapak is assumed rather rude and impolite even though the assumption cannot be truly generalized. In addition, speaking Javanese with basa ngapak has formed the people of the communities to be proud of their self identity because their Javanese language speaking is unique. While listening to the music and trying to understand the lyrics of the songs, there are some moral values that show how to well behave and interact in social life. It proves that tarling maintains and supports local wisdom through music since music has become a universal means to deliver someone’s intention