VERSE: Bridging Screen Readers and Voice Assistants for Enhanced Eyes-Free Web Search Alexandra Vtyurina∗ Adam Fourney Meredith Ringel Morris University of Waterloo Microsoft Research Microsoft Research Waterloo, Ontario, Canada Redmond, WA, USA Redmond, WA, USA
[email protected] [email protected] [email protected] Leah Findlater Ryen W. White University of Washington Microsoft Research Seattle, WA, USA Redmond, WA, USA
[email protected] [email protected] ABSTRACT INTRODUCTION People with visual impairments often rely on screen readers People with visual impairments are often early adopters of when interacting with computer systems. Increasingly, these audio-based interfaces, with screen readers being a prime individuals also make extensive use of voice-based virtual example. Screen readers work by transforming the visual assistants (VAs). We conducted a survey of 53 people who are content in a graphical user interface into audio by vocalizing legally blind to identify the strengths and weaknesses of both on-screen text. To this end, they are an important accessibility technologies, and the unmet opportunities at their intersection. tool for blind computer users – so much so that every major We learned that virtual assistants are convenient and accessible, operating system includes screen reader functionality (e.g., but lack the ability to deeply engage with content (e.g., read VoiceOver1, TalkBack2, Narrator3), and there is a strong mar- beyond the frst few sentences of an article), and the ability ket for third-party offerings (e.g., JAWS4, NVDA5). Despite to get a quick overview of the landscape (e.g., list alternative their importance, screen readers have many limitations.