StereoMath: An Accessible and Musical Equation Editor
This addresses a critical accessibility problem for blind and low-vision individuals in STEM education and communication, representing a new paradigm rather than an incremental improvement.
The paper tackles the difficulty of digital math communication for blind and low-vision individuals by developing StereoMath, an equation editor designed with accessibility in mind, using spatial audio cues and intuitive navigation to reduce cognitive load and improve spatial understanding.
For blind and low-vision (BLV) individuals, digital math communication is uniquely difficult due to the lack of accessible tools. Currently, the state of the art is either code-based, like LaTeX, or WYSIWYG, like visual editors. However, both paradigms view math communication as primarily a visual typesetting problem, and may be accessible but difficult to use. In this paper, we present an equation editor that is built from the ground up with BLV accessibility in mind. Specifically, we notice that two of the biggest barriers with current technology are the high cognitive load and the lack of spatial relationships. Thus, we build an editor that uses spatial audio cues, muscle memory, tones, and more intuitive navigation to properly contextualize math equations. We discuss how this new paradigm can enable new levels of math communication, engagement, and literacy. Finally, we discuss natural next steps.