Cognitive Engineering and Computer-Based Assistive Technologies

Assistive technology for persons with visual impairments is important now and will be increasingly important as the U.S. population ages. Screen readers, technology for translating optical characters into phonemes, Aid computer users with visual impairments. However, as more computer interfaces make use of graphical stimuli and spatial cues to represent and organize information, current screen readers may not accurately represent information from Web sites and other computer-based displays. The present panel discusses multidisciplinary research being done on a National Science Foundation grant concerned with representing tables, frames, and forms on computers so that they will be usable by persons with visual disabilities.