AccessibleCharts: Making Data Visualization Accessible Through Sonification and Haptics

This thesis presents AccessibleCharts, an interactive application designed to make data visualization accessible to students with visual impairments through the integration of sonification, haptic feedback, and speech output. Building upon prior research in audio-tactile accessibility, the project extends the focus from mathematical functions to widely used statistical representations such as line and bar charts, which play a central role in STEM education and everyday communication. The system was implemented in Unity and deployed on Android tablets to leverage both audio and vibration capabilities, ensuring portability and usability without specialized hardware. By transforming abstract numerical values into auditory and tactile patterns, AccessibleCharts enables learners with visual impairments to autonomously explore trends, magnitudes, and categories that would otherwise remain inaccessible. The system demonstrates how multimodal interaction can reduce inequalities, foster autonomy, and support inclusive learning in mathematics and related fields. Limitations of the current work include the lack of large-scale trials with students, which would be necessary to fully validate pedagogical effectiveness. Nonetheless, the project provides both a practical prototype and a methodological contribution, positioning \textit{AccessibleCharts} as a step toward broader accessibility in digital education.