The use of concurrent speech to enhance blind people's scanning for relevant information

Abstract

João Guerreiro is a PhD Student at Instituto Superior Técnico (IST), University of Lisbon (UL). He is also a research assistant at the Visualization and Intelligent Multimodal Interfaces (VIMMI) group from INESC-ID. His main research interests include human-computer interaction and accessibility. In particular, he is currently exploring the use of concurrent speech to enhance blind people's efficiency when scanning for relevant digital content.

Screen readers present the information sequentially, which contrast with the visual presentation on screen. This fact affects blind users' efficiency browsing digital information, particularly when performing fast reading tasks. In this thesis, we will study the use of concurrent speech sources to help blind people finding their information of interest faster. Our first results suggested that blind users are able to identify and understand a relevant speech signal when listening to 2 or 3 concurrent talkers. Our next steps include comparing with current alternatives; assessing the learning effect with practice; and finding ways to interact with those sources.

References

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Index Terms

• Hardware

  • Communication hardware, interfaces and storage

    • Sound-based input / output

• Human-centered computing

  • Human computer interaction (HCI)

    • HCI design and evaluation methods

    • Interaction devices

      • Sound-based input / output

• Social and professional topics

  • Professional topics

    • Computing profession

      • Assistive technologies

  • User characteristics

    • People with disabilities