Human-Computer Interaction and Automatic Text
Simplification: Understanding the Perspective of
Deaf and Hard of Hearing Users
Matt Huenerfauth
Rochester Institute of Technology




Abstract
While there have been major advances in automatic text simplification and other related natural
language processing technologies, there has been much less research conducted with direct
participation of users, to understand their needs for this technology nor how it can be best
evaluated through their participation in studies. In this talk, I will discuss how research methods
from human-computer interaction and computing accessibility for people with disabilities can
illuminate the potential benefits of this technology for a specific user group who has been the
focus of research at our laboratory: Deaf and Hard of Hearing adult readers. In prior research
presented at the ACM CHI and ASSETS conferences, we have learned that reading-assistance
tools that incorporate lexical simplification benefit DHH adult readers, and we have also found
that these users prefer designs in which they have greater autonomy over which portions of
text have been simplified and transparency as to whether text has been modified. Focusing
specifically on DHH adults working in the computing and information technology professions,
we have also conducted research on users’ current reading practices, approaches they use
when encountering difficult text, their interest in reading-assistance technologies, and specific
design considerations that would affect their interest (e.g., sense of autonomy, privacy, or social
acceptability of this technology in the workplace). Finally, our most recent work has been
methodological in nature, in which we have identified specific types of questions that can be
asked in studies with DHH adults, of various English literacy levels, to effectively measure
the complexity and fluency of English texts that have been simplified. Beyond our specific
findings for DHH readers, our work illustrates how human-computer interaction researchers can
contribute to progress in the field of automatic text simplification and provide useful guidance
and methodological tools for other researchers.




Proceedings of the First Workshop on Current Trends in Text Simplification (CTTS 2021), co-located with SEPLN 2021.
September 21st, 2021 (Online). Saggion, H., Štajner, S. and Ferrés, D. (Eds).
                            © 2021 Copyright for this paper by its authors. Use permitted under Creative Commons License Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0).
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