Assistive XR research for disability at ACM ASSETS: A Scoping Review
Puneet Jain
TL;DR
This paper conducts a scoping review of XR research for disability presented at ACM ASSETS from 2019 to 2023, addressing the gap in a consolidated ASSETS-specific overview. From 1595 ASSETS publications, 26XR-focused disability papers were identified and analyzed using a coded framework to reveal six focal areas, prevalent research methods, and temporal trends. The study finds a heavy emphasis on navigation/orientation/interactions in VR, with VR dominating the XR landscape and vision impairment as the most addressed disability group, while AR-based work and cross-conference synthesis remain underexplored. The findings offer a structured map of ASSETS-assistive XR research, highlight gaps, and suggest directions for future work to broaden accessibility through AR, maintain robust qualitative methodologies, and integrate insights across HCI venues for disability-inclusive XR.
Abstract
Despite the rise in affordable eXtended Reality (XR) technologies, accessibility still remains a key concern, often excluding people with disabilities from accessing these immersive XR platforms. Consequently, there has been a notable surge in HCI research on creating accessible XR solutions (also known as, assistive XR). This increased focus in assistive XR research is also reflected in the number of research and innovative solutions submitted at the ACM Conference on Accessible Computing (ASSETS), with an aim to make XR experiences inclusive for disabled communities. However, till date, there is little to no work that provides a comprehensive overview of state-of-the-art research in assistive XR for disability at ACM ASSETS, a premier conference dedicated for research in HCI for people with disabilities. This study aims to fill this research gap by conducting a scoping review of literature delineating the key focus areas, research methods, statistical and temporal trends in XR research for disability at ACM ASSETS (2019-2023). From a pool of 1595 articles submitted to ASSETS, 26 articles are identified that specifically focus on XR research for disability. Through a detailed analysis, 6 key focus areas of XR research explored at ACM ASSETS are identified and a detailed examination of each is provided. Additionally, an overview of multiple research methods employed for XR research at ASSETS is also presented. Lastly, this work reports on the statistics and temporal trends regarding the number of publications, XR technologies used, disabilities addressed, and methodologies adopted for assistive XR research at ASSETS, highlighting emerging trends and possible future research directions.