Integrating Touch, Gestures and Speech for Multi-modal Conversations with an Audio-Tactile Graphics Reader

Research output: Contribution to book/Conference proceedings/Anthology/ReportConference contributionContributedpeer-review

Contributors

  • Bela Usabaev - , Chair of Human-Computer Interaction (Author)
  • Nicola Bührich - , Education Center for the Blind and Visually Impaired (Author)
  • Tutku Can Taş - , Education Center for the Blind and Visually Impaired (Author)
  • Gerhard Weber - , Chair of Human-Computer Interaction (Author)
  • Petra Ondrusek - , Education Center for the Blind and Visually Impaired (Author)

Abstract

Screen readers present one cell of a spreadsheet at a time and provide only a limited overview on a single table such as its dimensions. Screen reader users struggle, for example, in recognizing labels to explain another cell’s purpose. In a Wizard-of-Oz study with two wizards as voice agents generating speech feedback we explore a novel audio-tactile graphics reader with tactile grid-based overlays and spoken feedback for touch to enable screen reader users to engage in a conversation about the spreadsheet with a voice assistant and utilize a screen reader to solve spreadsheet calculation tasks. In a pilot with 3 and a main study with 8 BLV students, we identify multi-modal interaction patterns and confirm the importance of two separate roles of speakers: a voice assistant and a screen reader. The conversation is driven by user’s multi-modal speech input and hand gestures provided sequentially or in parallel. Verbal references to cells by spoken addresses, values, and formulas can be embodied as tangible objects to unify tactile and verbal representations.

Details

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationHuman-Computer Interaction – INTERACT 2025
EditorsCarmelo Ardito, Simone Diniz Junqueira Barbosa, Tayana Conte, André Freire, Isabela Gasparini, Philippe Palanque, Raquel Prates
Pages323-332
Number of pages10
ISBN (electronic)978-3-032-05005-2
Publication statusE-pub ahead of print - 9 Sept 2025
Peer-reviewedYes

Publication series

SeriesLecture Notes in Computer Science
Volume16110
ISSN0302-9743

External IDs

unpaywall 10.1007/978-3-032-05005-2_17
dblp conf/interact/UsabaevBTWO25
Scopus 105017117068

Keywords

Keywords

  • accessibility, multimodality, Wizard-of-Oz study, conversational user interface