Giudice, N.A. – VEMI Lab

Toward Accessible Parsons Problems on Mobile Platforms

ederosby — Tue, 17 Feb 2026 17:38:58 +0000

Parsons problems have become a mainstay of computer science education. They are heavily used among students, especially in K-12 and provide a small puzzle-like experience for students to practice their skills. Today, while prior work has explored complex issues with accessibility and block languages in general, the 2024 changes to accessibility regulations by the U.S. Department of Justice includes new rules around mobile platforms. These rules are ill-defined and in need of evaluation. In this work, we make several contributions. First, we conducted an evaluation of existing blocks with respect to their regulatory compliance and discuss a new blocks technology that we developed that meets these new mobile guidelines. Second, we conducted three empirical studies using Parsons problems to evaluate the usability of the technology with teachers of the visually impaired (n = 32), high-school students with diverse disabilities (n = 28), and high-school students with blindness or low vision (n = 13).

Citation:

Kluthe, T., Contreras, G., Allee, W., Robinson-Moore, W.J., Roy, N., Williams, H., Hoffman, A., Smith, D.W., Blaser, B., Gorlewicz, J.L., Giudice, N.A.,�� & Stefik, A. (2026).�� Toward Accessible Parsons Problems on Mobile Platforms. In the Proceedings of the 57th ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education (SIGCSETS’26). Vol 1, 589-596. Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.1145/3770762.3772646.

Dude, Where’s My (Autonomous) Car? Defining an Accessible Description Logic for Blind and Low Vision Travelers Using Autonomous Vehicles

ederosby — Thu, 16 Oct 2025 18:13:33 +0000

Purpose: Autonomous vehicles (AVs) are becoming a promising transportation solution for blind and low-vision (BLV) travelers, offering the potential for greater independent mobility. This paper explores the information needs of BLV users across multiple steps of the transportation journey, including finding and navigating to, entering, and exiting vehicles independently.

Methods: A survey with 202 BLV respondents and interviews with 12 BLV individuals revealed the perspectives of BLV end-users and informed the sequencing of natural language information required for successful travel. Whereas the survey identified key information needs across the three trip segments, the interviews helped prioritize how that information should be presented in a sequence of accessible descriptions to travelers.

Results: Taken together, the survey and interviews reveal that BLV users prioritize knowing the vehicle’s make and model and how to find the correct vehicle during the navigation phase. They also emphasize the importance of confirmations about the vehicle’s destination and onboard safety features upon entering the vehicle. While exiting, BLV users value information about hazards and obstacles, as well as knowing which side of the vehicle to exit. Furthermore, results highlight that BLV travelers desire using their own smartphone devices when receiving information from AVs and prefer audiobased interaction.

Conclusion: The findings from this research contribute a structured framework for delivering trip-related information to BLV users, useful for designers incorporating natural language descriptions tailored to each travel segment. This work offers important contributions for sequencing transportation-related descriptions throughout the AV journey, ultimately enhancing the mobility and independence of BLV individuals.

Citation:

Fink, P.D.S., Brown, J.R., Coombs, R., Hamby, E.A., James, K.J., Harris, A., Bond, J., Andrulis, M.E., & Giudice, N.A. (in press). Dude, Where’s My (Autonomous) Car? Defining an Accessible Description Logic for Blind and Low Vision Travelers Using Autonomous Vehicles. Universal Access in the Information Society (UAIS).

Towards a Cohesive Accessible Mobility Ecosystem

ederosby — Tue, 14 Oct 2025 16:33:52 +0000

Ensuring widespread accessible mobility has the potential to positively impact the lives of millions of people with disabilities by moving and connecting them to what matters, in addition to improving mobility for everyone through the benefits of inclusive design. To enable cross-disciplinary solutions, an overview of several key research areas for advancing the field of accessible mobility will be provided, covering aspects including the accessibility ecosystem, physical and digital methods for improving accessibility, and accessibility safety. Recent advancements and opportunities for innovation will be highlighted, with the aim of developing a holistic inclusive transportation architecture, leveraging the ongoing and future transformation of the industry.

Citation:

Duerstock, B., Giudice, N. A., Klinich, K. D., Kreschmer, J., Lee, M., & Bond, J. (2025). Towards a Cohesive Accessible Mobility Ecosystem.��Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society Annual Meeting. Vol. 69, No. 1, pp. 878-883. SAGE Publications. https://doi.org/10.1177/10711813251381732.��

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Does Trust Even Matter? Behavioral Evidence for the Disconnect Between People’s Subjective Trust and Decisions to Use Autonomous Vehicles

ederosby — Wed, 21 May 2025 16:47:08 +0000

One of the most prevalent findings in the autonomous transportation literature is the strong connection between human trust and intentions to use autonomous vehicles (AVs). Indeed, trust is widely regarded as an essential antecedent for the adoption of AVs, a finding based primarily on survey-based methodologies. However, psychological theory has long suggested that self-reported measures of intention are fraught with contradiction – people often say one thing and do another. We examine this potential dichotomy here by experimentally characterizing the relationship between self-reported trust and behavioral decisions to use AVs. An initial survey of 444 participants assessed trust in AVs, identifying three trust categories: high, moderate, and low. Results demonstrated that people trust human rideshare drivers more than AVs. A subsequent in-lab behavioral study with 72 of these participants involved choosing a ride in an AV or a human-driven vehicle. Contrary to prevailing assumptions, our results reveal a deep chasm between intention and behavior: 97��% of participants, regardless of trust rating, chose to ride in the AV. This finding indicates that situational context, curiosity, and immediate circumstances heavily influence decision-making, mediating (and even overshadowing) self-reported trust levels. Employing Cognitive Dissonance Theory, we offer potential explanations for why participants reconciled their initial distrust with their subsequent actions. Our findings challenge the narrative that self-reported trust determines AV adoption and highlight the importance of situational factors in shaping user behavior. Using these results, we offer new insights and guidance for deploying AVs, suggesting that controlled, low-risk environments could facilitate broader acceptance of this emerging technology, providing a practical solution to the AV trust problem.

Citation:

Fink, P.D.S., Brown, J.R., Kutzer, K.M., & Giudice, N.A. (2025). Does Trust Even Matter? Behavioral Evidence for the Disconnect Between People’s Subjective Trust and Decisions to Use Autonomous Vehicles. Transportation Research Part F: Traffic Psychology and Behaviour (TRF), 114, 99-117. DOI: 10.1016/j.trf.2025.05.024.

Bridging the Gap of Graphical Information Accessibility in Education With Multimodal Touchscreens Among Students With Blindness and Low Vision

aforbes — Fri, 15 Nov 2024 17:16:33 +0000

Informational graphics and data representations (e.g., charts and figures) are
critical for accessing educational content. Novel technologies, such as the multimodal
touchscreen which displays audio, haptic, and visual information, are promising for being
platforms of diverse means to access digital content. This work evaluated educational graphics rendered on a touchscreen compared to the current standard for accessing graphical content.

Citation:
Tennison, J. L., Goswami, S., Hairston, J. R., Merlin Drews, P., Smith, D. W., Giudice, N. A., Stefik, A., & Gorlewicz, J. L. (2023). Bridging the Gap of Graphical Information Accessibility in Education With Multimodal Touchscreens Among Students With Blindness and Low Vision. Journal of Visual Impairment & Blindness, 117(6), 453-466. https://doi.org/10.1177/0145482X231217496

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Establishing and maintaining orientation: Tools, techniques, and technologies

aforbes — Fri, 15 Nov 2024 17:02:13 +0000

The chapter provides a thorough survey of the background and challenges related to navigation for people who are blind or visually impaired. It connects theories of multisensory information processing to current technologies for providing navigation assistance and describes tools and techniques to promote accurate spatial learning and navigation using nonvisual sensing. Careful readers will find mention of five current and past lab members, one of Dr. Giudice’s previous guide dogs, and much more!

Citation:
Giudice, N.A. & Long, R.G. (2024). Establishing and maintaining orientation: Tools, techniques, and technologies. In R.S. Wall Emerson, B.B. Blasch, &W.R. Wiener (Eds.), Foundations of orientation and mobility: Vol. I, History and theory (4th ed., pp. 18-54). APH Press.

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Accessible maps for the future of inclusive ridesharing

ederosby — Sun, 22 Sep 2024 16:25:06 +0000

For people who are blind and low vision (BLV), ridesharing provides an important means of independence and mobility. However, a common challenge relates to finding the vehicle when it arrives to an unanticipated location. Although coordinating with the driver for assistance is serviceable in the near term, new solutions are necessary when a human is no longer available in future automated vehicles. Therefore, this paper presents and evaluates a multisensory smartphone-based map system designed to enable nonvisual tracking of summoned vehicles. Results from a user study with (N=12) BLV users suggest that vibro-audio maps (VAMs) promote superior spatial confidence and reasoning compared to current nonvisual audio interfaces in ridesharing apps, while also being desirable and easy to use. A subsequent expert evaluation based on improvements suggested during the user study indicate the practical utility of VAMs to address both current and future wayfinding challenges for BLV travelers.

Citation:��

Fink, P.D.S., Milne, H0., Caccese, A., Alsamsam, M., Loranger, J., Colley, M., & Giudice, N.A. (2024).��Accessible maps for the future of inclusive ridesharing. In the Proceedings of the 16th International Conference on��Automotive��User Interfaces and Interactive Vehicular Applications (AutomotiveUI��’24), 106-115.https://doi.org/10.1145/3640792.3675736.

X-ray vision as a compensatory augmentation for slowing cognitive map decay in older adults

ederosby — Sat, 11 May 2024 16:00:24 +0000

Safe and efficient navigation often relies on the development and retention of accurate cognitive maps that include inter-landmark relations. For many older adults, cognitive maps are difficult to form and remember over time, which introduces serious challenges for independence and mobility. To address this problem, we explore an innovative compensatory augmentation solution enabling enhanced inter-landmark learning via an “X-Ray Vision” simulation. Results with (n=45) user study participants suggest superior older adult cognitive map retention over time from a single learning session with the augmentation versus a control condition without the augmentation. Furthermore, results characterize differences in decay of cognitive maps between older adults and a control of younger adults. These findings suggest important implications for future augmented reality devices and the ways in which they can be used to promote memory and independence among older adults.

Citation:

Bennett, C.R., Fink, P.D.S., & Giudice, N.A. (2024). X-ray vision as a compensatory augmentation for slowing cognitive map decay in older adults. Proceedings of the 2024 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI ’24). DOI: 10.1145/3613904.3642644.

Spatial audio-enhanced multimodal graph rendering for efficient data trend learning on touchscreen devices

ederosby — Sat, 11 May 2024 15:53:32 +0000

Touchscreen-based rendering of graphics using vibrations, sonification, and text-to-speech is a promising approach for nonvisual access to graphical information, but extracting trends from complex data representations nonvisually is challenging. This work presents the design of a multimodal feedback scheme with integrated spatial audio for the exploration of histograms and scatter plots on touchscreens. We detail the hardware employed and the algorithms used to control vibrations and sonification adjustments through the change of pitch and directional stereo output. We conducted formative testing with 5 blind or visually impaired participants, and results illustrate that spatial audio has the potential to increase the identification of trends in the data, at the expense of a skewed mental representation of the graph. This design work and pilot study are critical to the iterative, human-centered approach of rendering multimodal graphics on touchscreens and contribute a new scheme for efficiently capturing data trends in complex data representations.

Citation:��

Robinson-Moore, W. Kalal, M., Tennison, J.L., Giudice, N.A., & Gorlewicz, J.L. (2024). Spatial audio-enhanced multimodal graph rendering for efficient data trend learning on touchscreen devices. Proceedings of the 2024 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI ’24). DOI: 10.1145/3613904.3641959.

Towards robotic companions: Understanding handler-guide dog interactions for informed guide dog robot design

ederosby — Sat, 11 May 2024 15:41:00 +0000

Dog guides are favored by blind and low-vision (BLV) individuals for their ability to enhance independence and confidence by reducing safety concerns and increasing navigation efficiency compared to traditional mobility aids. However, only a relatively small proportion of BLV individuals work with dog guides due to their limited availability and associated maintenance responsibilities. There is considerable recent interest in addressing this challenge by developing legged guide dog robots. This study was designed to determine critical aspects of the handler-guide dog interaction and better understand handler needs to inform guide dog robot development. We conducted semi-structured interviews and observation sessions with 23 dog guide handlers and 5 trainers. Thematic analysis revealed critical limitations in guide dog work, desired personalization in handler-guide dog interaction, and important perspectives on future guide dog robots. Grounded on these findings, we discuss pivotal design insights for guide dog robots aimed for adoption within the BLV community.

Citation:

Hwang, H., Jung, H., Giudice, N.A., Biswas, J., Lee, S.I., & Kim, D. (2024). Towards robotic companions: Understanding handler-guide dog interactions for informed guide dog robot design. Proceedings of the 2024 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI ’24). DOI: 10.1145/3613904.3642181.