TADA: Making Node-link Diagrams Accessible to Blind and Low-Vision People

TL;DR

TADA is a tablet-based system that uses touch, audio, and speech to make node-link diagrams accessible to blind and low-vision users, enabling exploration, search, navigation, and filtering.

Contribution

This paper introduces TADA, a novel interactive system that enhances diagram accessibility for visually impaired users through multimodal interaction.

Findings

Participants successfully completed diagram tasks using TADA.

TADA provided diverse perspectives and improved diagram understanding.

Participants found TADA useful for exploring diagrams.

Abstract

Diagrams often appear as node-link representations in many contexts, such as taxonomies, mind maps and networks in textbooks. Despite their pervasiveness, they present significant accessibility challenges for blind and low-vision people. To address this challenge, we introduce Touch-and-Audio-based Diagram Access (TADA), a tablet-based interactive system that makes diagram exploration accessible through musical tones and speech. We designed and developed TADA informed by insights gained from an interview study with 15 participants who shared their challenges and strategies for accessing diagrams. TADA enables people to access a diagram by: i) engaging in open-ended touch-based explorations, ii) allowing searching of specific nodes, iii) navigating from one node to another and iv) filtering information. We evaluated TADA with 25 participants and found that it can be a useful tool for gaining different perspectives about the diagram and participants could complete several diagram-related tasks.