research-article

Understanding Screen-Reader Users’ Experiences with Online Data Visualizations

Authors:

Sanjana Shivani Chintalapati,

Jacob O. Wobbrock,

Katharina ReineckeAuthors Info & Claims

ASSETS '21: Proceedings of the 23rd International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility

Article No.: 14, Pages 1 - 16

https://doi.org/10.1145/3441852.3471202

Published: 17 October 2021 Publication History

Abstract

Online data visualizations are widely used to communicate information from simple statistics to complex phenomena, supporting people in gaining important insights from data. However, due to the defining visual nature of data visualizations, extracting information from visualizations can be difficult or impossible for screen-reader users. To assess screen-reader users’ challenges with online data visualizations, we conducted two empirical studies: (1) A qualitative study with nine screen-reader users, and (2) a quantitative study with 36 screen-reader and 36 non-screen-reader users. Our results show that due to the inaccessibility of online data visualizations, screen-reader users extract information 61.48% less accurately and spend 210.96% more time interacting with online data visualizations compared to non-screen-reader users. Additionally, our findings show that online data visualizations are commonly indiscoverable to screen readers. In visualizations that are discoverable and comprehensible, screen-reader users suggested tabular and textual representation of data as techniques to improve the accessibility of online visualizations. Taken together, our results provide empirical evidence of the inequalities screen-readers users face in their interaction with online data visualizations.

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Jiang CKuang EFan M(2025)How Can Haptic Feedback Assist People with Blind and Low Vision (BLV): A Systematic Literature ReviewACM Transactions on Accessible Computing10.1145/371193118:1(1-57)Online publication date: 13-Jan-2025
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3711931
Afsal CKuppusamy K(2025)WEBSumm: A Chrome Extension for Summarizing Web Content Using LLMs for Visually Impaired UsersSN Computer Science10.1007/s42979-025-03726-76:2Online publication date: 14-Feb-2025
https://doi.org/10.1007/s42979-025-03726-7
Prakash YKolgar Nayak AAlyaan SKhan PLee HAshok V(2024)Improving Usability of Data Charts in Multimodal Documents for Low Vision UsersProceedings of the 26th International Conference on Multimodal Interaction10.1145/3678957.3685714(498-507)Online publication date: 4-Nov-2024
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Index Terms

Understanding Screen-Reader Users’ Experiences with Online Data Visualizations
1. Human-centered computing
  1. Human computer interaction (HCI)

Index terms have been assigned to the content through auto-classification.

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cover image ACM Conferences

ASSETS '21: Proceedings of the 23rd International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility

October 2021

730 pages

ISBN:9781450383066

DOI:10.1145/3441852

Editors:
Jonathan Lazar
University of Maryland, USA
,
Jinjuan Heidi Feng
Towson University, USA
,
Faustina Hwang
Towson University, USA

Copyright © 2021 ACM.

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New York, NY, United States

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Published: 17 October 2021

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Cited By

Jiang CKuang EFan M(2025)How Can Haptic Feedback Assist People with Blind and Low Vision (BLV): A Systematic Literature ReviewACM Transactions on Accessible Computing10.1145/371193118:1(1-57)Online publication date: 13-Jan-2025
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3711931
Afsal CKuppusamy K(2025)WEBSumm: A Chrome Extension for Summarizing Web Content Using LLMs for Visually Impaired UsersSN Computer Science10.1007/s42979-025-03726-76:2Online publication date: 14-Feb-2025
https://doi.org/10.1007/s42979-025-03726-7
Prakash YKolgar Nayak AAlyaan SKhan PLee HAshok V(2024)Improving Usability of Data Charts in Multimodal Documents for Low Vision UsersProceedings of the 26th International Conference on Multimodal Interaction10.1145/3678957.3685714(498-507)Online publication date: 4-Nov-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3678957.3685714
Sharif APotluri VAng JWobbrock JMankoff J(2024)Touchpad Mapper: Examining Information Consumption From 2D Digital Content Using Touchpads by Screen-Reader UsersProceedings of the 26th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility10.1145/3663548.3688505(1-4)Online publication date: 27-Oct-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3663548.3688505
Sharif A(2024)Workshop as an Educational Intervention: Improving the Knowledge and Understanding of Data Visualization Accessibility for Visualization CreatorsProceedings of the 26th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility10.1145/3663548.3688489(1-6)Online publication date: 27-Oct-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3663548.3688489
Sharif AKim JXu JWobbrock J(2024)Understanding and Reducing the Challenges Faced by Creators of Accessible Online Data VisualizationsProceedings of the 26th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility10.1145/3663548.3675625(1-20)Online publication date: 27-Oct-2024
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Zhang ZThompson JShah AAgrawal MSarikaya AWobbrock JCutrell ELee B(2024)ChartA11y: Designing Accessible Touch Experiences of Visualizations with Blind Smartphone UsersProceedings of the 26th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility10.1145/3663548.3675611(1-15)Online publication date: 27-Oct-2024
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Yeung CKohno TRoesner FVallina-Rodríguez NSuarez-Tángil GLevin DPelsser C(2024)Analyzing the (In)Accessibility of Online AdvertisementsProceedings of the 2024 ACM on Internet Measurement Conference10.1145/3646547.3688427(92-106)Online publication date: 4-Nov-2024
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