@incollection{OumardKreimeierGoetzelmann2022, author = {Oumard, Christina and Kreimeier, Julian and G{\"o}tzelmann, Timo}, title = {Pardon? An Overview of the Current State and Requirements of Voice User Interfaces for Blind and Visually Impaired Users}, series = {Lecture Notes in Computer Science}, booktitle = {Lecture Notes in Computer Science}, publisher = {Springer International Publishing}, address = {Cham}, isbn = {9783031086472}, issn = {0302-9743}, doi = {10.1007/978-3-031-08648-9_45}, pages = {388 -- 398}, year = {2022}, abstract = {People with special needs like blind and visually impaired (BVI) people can particularly benefit from using voice assistants providing spoken information input and output in everyday life. However, it is crucial to understand their needs and include them in developing accessible and useful assistance systems. By conducting an online survey with 146 BVI people, this paper revealed that common voice assistants like Apple's Siri or Amazon's Alexa are used by a majority of BVI people and are also considered helpful. In particular, features in audio entertainment, internet access, and everyday life practical things like weather queries, time-related information (e.g., setting an alarm clock), checking calendar entries, and taking notes are particularly often used and appreciated. The participants also indicated that the integration of smart home devices, the optimization of existing functionalities, and voice input are important. Still, also potentially negative aspects such as data privacy and data security are relevant. Therefore, it seems particularly interesting to implement offline data processing as far as possible. Our results contribute to this development by providing an overview of empirically collected requirements for functions and implementation-related aspects.}, language = {en} } @inproceedings{GoetzelmannKreimeierSchwabletal.2021, author = {G{\"o}tzelmann, Timo and Kreimeier, Julian and Schwabl, Johannes and Karg, Pascal and Oumard, Christina and B{\"u}ttner, Florian}, title = {AmI-VR: An Accessible Building Information System as Case Study Towards the Applicability of Ambient Intelligence in Virtual Reality}, series = {Mensch und Computer 2021}, booktitle = {Mensch und Computer 2021}, publisher = {ACM}, address = {New York, NY, USA}, doi = {10.1145/3473856.3474032}, pages = {597 -- 600}, year = {2021}, abstract = {Ambient intelligence represents a paradigm in which the user does not react to the environment, but vice versa. Accordingly, smart environments can react to the presence and activities of users and support them unobtrusively from the background. Especially in the context of accessibility, this offers great potential that has so far only been demonstrated for individual user groups. To overcome this limitation, we propose the automated, user- and context-related adaptation of the modality as well as locality of the representation of building information in the form of both an adjustable table as well as two displays on the basis of a prototype for a library information center. For being independent from material and regulatory restrictions and for better planability (especially with the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic) we used in addition to the hardware components also a Virtual Reality simulation, which proved to be very useful. Further optimization and evaluation will be needed for a more in depth understanding and dissemination in the long run, yet our prototype aims to help fostering further activities in the field of ambient intelligence, accessibility and virtual reality as a planning tool.}, language = {en} } @inproceedings{OumardKreimeierGoetzelmann2022, author = {Oumard, Christina and Kreimeier, Julian and G{\"o}tzelmann, Timo}, title = {Implementation and Evaluation of a Voice User Interface with Offline Speech Processing for People who are Blind or Visually Impaired}, series = {Proceedings of the 15th International Conference on PErvasive Technologies Related to Assistive Environments}, booktitle = {Proceedings of the 15th International Conference on PErvasive Technologies Related to Assistive Environments}, publisher = {ACM}, address = {New York, NY, USA}, doi = {10.1145/3529190.3529197}, pages = {277 -- 285}, year = {2022}, abstract = {Assistive technologies help blind and visually impaired people to manage their daily lives independently. However, they usually have to work with voice user interfaces to use smartphones and tablets. Tasks like managing the calendar, taking notes, or setting an alarm clock require reliable voice recognition, which entails online access for remote computing. However, apart from data privacy and security issues, an online connection is not available in any situation. In this regard, our paper develops and evaluates an offline voice user interface with offline speech processing. The voice assistant was tested with seven blind and visually impaired people. It was found that the assistant was very well received (i.e., pragmatic, hedonic, and general quality) and that no functional limitations could be perceived due to the offline data processing. Based on these findings, the scope of functionality and the level of detail of the evaluation can be extended further to adapt this technology for this specific user group and promote its dissemination.}, language = {en} }