Go to DBLP homepageEnabling People with Blindness to Distinguish Lines of Mathematical Charts with Audio-Tactile Graphic Readers
Abstract: Accessible alternatives to two-dimensional (2d) information are important in connecting people with blindness and visual impairment (BVI) to the rest of the world. Such 2d information for people with BVI includes, for example, line charts. Within line charts, it is a challenging task for people with BVI to distinguish lines. This is specifically difficult for charts with complex layouts that contain multiple lines, especially parallel lines and intersections. Tactile 2d graphic readers such as the Tactonom Reader allow access to line graph data via audio-tactile user interfaces (UIs), but these are not yet mature. Its current user interface (Tactonom Reader Version 1) combines tactile graphics (paper with Braille embossing or swell paper) with pinpointed audio explanations through camera-based fingertip recognition. Following a user-centred design, we implemented a new augmented user interface to distinguish lines of line charts in the Tactonom Reader. In addition to spoken explanations, the enhanced user interface uses acoustic feedback, supports dynamic trigger sounds and includes a component for filtering individual lines. Thus, we first evaluated the current speech user interface of the Tactonom Reader and our extended user interface for distinguishing lines of line diagrams with four participants with BVI. Beyond comparing the efficiency, effectiveness and satisfaction of both user interfaces with graphs of different complexity, we observed the current challenges of this task. The analysis revealed that the evaluated user interfaces enable people with BVI to access and distinguish lines in uncomplicated mathematical charts. Our new user interface has proved very useful in several areas but needs further development to fully enable people with BVI to understand and distinguish lines in complex mathematical diagrams.
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