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Leah Findlater

Leah Findlater

· Professor

University of Washington · Human Centered Design & Engineering

Active 2001–2026

h-index44
Citations9.1k
Papers17955 last 5y
Funding$1.7M

Academic metrics are sourced from OpenAlex and public funding records; values may differ from Google Scholar.

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About

Leah Findlater is a professor in the Department of Human Centered Design & Engineering at the University of Washington. Her specialization includes accessible computing, mobile and wearable technologies, human-centered AI, and human-computer interaction. Her research focuses on designing technologies that improve accessibility and usability for diverse populations, emphasizing human-centered approaches to AI and mobile device interaction.

Research topics

  • Computer Science
  • Psychology
  • Computer Security
  • Human–computer interaction
  • Artificial Intelligence
  • Engineering
  • Optometry
  • Internet privacy
  • Geography
  • Applied psychology

Selected publications

  • What Do We Mean by "Accessibility Research"? A Literature Survey of Accessibility Papers in CHI and ASSETS from 1994 to 2019

    2021 · 301 citations

    Senior authorCorresponding

    Accessibility research has grown substantially in the past few decades, yet there has been no literature review of the field. To understand current and historical trends, we created and analyzed a dataset of accessibility papers appearing at CHI and ASSETS since ASSETS' founding in 1994. We qualitatively coded areas of focus and methodological decisions for the past 10 years (2010-2019, N=506 papers), and analyzed paper counts and keywords over the full 26 years (N=836 papers). Our findings high…

    DOI

  • Use of Intelligent Voice Assistants by Older Adults with Low Technology Use

    ACM Transactions on Computer-Human Interaction · 2020 · 267 citations

    Senior authorCorresponding

    Voice assistants embodied in smart speakers (e.g., Amazon Echo, Google Home) enable voice-based interaction that does not necessarily rely on expertise with mobile or desktop computing. Hence, these voice assistants offer new opportunities to different populations, including individuals who are not interested or able to use traditional computing devices such as computers and smartphones. To understand how older adults who use technology infrequently perceive and use these voice assistants, we co…

    DOI

  • No Explainability without Accountability

    2020 · 115 citations

    Senior authorCorresponding

    Automatically generated explanations of how machine learning (ML) models reason can help users understand and accept them. However, explanations can have unintended consequences: promoting over-reliance or undermining trust. This paper investigates how explanations shape users' perceptions of ML models with or without the ability to provide feedback to them: (1) does revealing model flaws increase users' desire to "fix" them; (2) does providing explanations cause users to believe - wrongly - tha…

    DOI

  • The Effectiveness of Visual and Audio Wayfinding Guidance on Smartglasses for People with Low Vision

    2020 · 87 citations

    Wayfinding is a critical but challenging task for people who have low vision, a visual impairment that falls short of blindness. Prior wayfinding systems for people with visual impairments focused on blind people, providing only audio and tactile feedback. Since people with low vision use their remaining vision, we sought to determine how audio feedback compares to visual feedback in a wayfinding task. We developed visual and audio wayfinding guidance on smartglasses based on de facto standard a…

    DOI

  • Envisioning Collective Communication Access: A Theoretically-Grounded Review of Captioning Literature from 2013-2023

    2024-10-20 · 9 citations

    reviewSenior author

    A significant body of human-computer interaction accessibility research explores ways technology can improve communication access. Yet, this research infrequently engages other fields with complementary expertise – namely disability studies, Deaf studies, disability justice, and communication studies. To facilitate interdisciplinary communication access research, we synthesize thinking from these four fields into a framework of collective communication access. We then analyze human-centered acce…

    PublisherDOI

Recent grants

Frequent coauthors

  • Jon E. Froehlich

    University of Washington

    72 shared

  • Jordan Boyd‐Graber

    37 shared

  • Alison Smith

    24 shared

  • Kevin Seppi

    22 shared

  • Dhruv Jain

    21 shared

  • Uran Oh

    Ewha Womans University

    20 shared

  • Lee Stearns

    University of Maryland, College Park

    18 shared

  • Varun Kumar

    Mahatma Gandhi Kashi Vidyapith

    17 shared

Awards & honors

  • NSF CAREER Award

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