Effective Scheme to Control Multiple Application Windows for Screen Reader Users with Blindness

Blind people use screen readers (SRs) to manipulate their personal computers. Due to the various voices and sounds handled by the screen reader, the more application windows open, the heavier the cognitive burden it feels, and the lower its performance becomes. In this paper, we propose a support scheme that enables SR users with blindness to effectively control multiple windows. As a proof-of-concept system, we propose a set of shortcut key buttons that provide direct jumps to the targeted window through a simple action. According to the evaluation results, our shortcut key buttons had positive effects on reducing the subjective workload and the number of keystrokes.

[1]  Tohru Ifukube,et al.  TAJODA: Proposed Tactile and Jog Dial Interface for the Blind , 2004, IEICE Trans. Inf. Syst..

[2]  Barbara Leporini,et al.  Personalization in the Interactive EPUB 3 Reading Experience: Accessibility Issues for Screen Reader Users , 2019, W4A.

[3]  Hironobu Takagi,et al.  Analysis of navigability of Web applications for improving blind usability , 2007, TCHI.

[4]  S. Hart,et al.  Development of NASA-TLX (Task Load Index): Results of Empirical and Theoretical Research , 1988 .

[5]  Junji Maeda,et al.  Accessibility designer: visualizing usability for the blind , 2004, Assets '04.

[6]  Yasuaki Takamoto,et al.  Web accessibility diagnosis tools , 2005 .

[7]  Shawn Lawton Henry,et al.  Essential components of mobile web accessibility , 2013, W4A.

[8]  Naoki Mizukami,et al.  Japanese version of NASA Task Load Index , 1996 .

[9]  I. V. Ramakrishnan,et al.  More than meets the eye: a survey of screen-reader browsing strategies , 2010, W4A.

[10]  Toshimitsu Yamaguchi,et al.  Analysis of Word Familiarity and Components of Conventional Shosaiyomi with the Change of Difficulty of Kanji Characters , 2007 .

[11]  YABU Ken-ichiro,et al.  * Evaluation Pattern Editing Tool for Visually Impaired Students: Developing Application Software for Wearable Haptic Tactile Interface , 2016 .

[12]  J. J. Higgins,et al.  The aligned rank transform for nonparametric factorial analyses using only anova procedures , 2011, CHI.

[13]  Takashi Itoh,et al.  User interface of a Home Page Reader , 1998, Assets '98.

[14]  Sandra G. Hart,et al.  Nasa-Task Load Index (NASA-TLX); 20 Years Later , 2006 .

[15]  Hironobu Takagi,et al.  Making multimedia content accessible for screen reader users , 2007, W4A '07.

[16]  Shadi Abou-Zahra,et al.  Standards, Guidelines, and Trends , 2019, Web Accessibility.

[17]  Hironobu Takagi,et al.  Social accessibility: achieving accessibility through collaborative metadata authoring , 2008, Assets '08.

[18]  Jutta Treviranus,et al.  Authoring Tools , 2008, Web Accessibility.

[19]  Tohru Ifukube,et al.  Development of a GUI screen reader for blind persons , 1998, Systems and Computers in Japan.