# SeeChart: Enabling Accessible Visualizations Through Interactive Natural Language Interface For People with Visual Impairments

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2302.07742 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2302.07742/

## Key facts

- Cited by 4 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- First posted on arXiv 15 Feb 2023.

## Built on by (most cited first, 4 of 4)

- [Natural Language Generation for Visualizations: State of the Art, Challenges and Future Directions](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2409.19747/) (2024)
- [AltChart: Enhancing VLM-based Chart Summarization Through Multi-Pretext Tasks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2405.13580/) (2024)
- [Lost in Instructions: Study of Blind Users' Experiences with DIY Manuals and AI-Rewritten Instructions for Assembly, Operation, and Troubleshooting of Tangible Products](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2602.18630/) (2026)
- [From Plots to Words: Model-Aware Multimodal Explanations as a Foundation for Accessible, Non-Visual Interaction](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2608.24910/) (2026)

## Abstract (arXiv)

Web-based data visualizations have become very popular for exploring data and communicating insights. Newspapers, journals, and reports regularly publish visualizations to tell compelling stories with data. Unfortunately, most visualizations are inaccessible to readers with visual impairments. For many charts on the web, there are no accompanying alternative (alt) texts, and even if such texts exist they do not adequately describe important insights from charts. To address the problem, we first interviewed 15 blind users to understand their challenges and requirements for reading data visualizations. Based on the insights from these interviews, we developed SeeChart, an interactive tool that automatically deconstructs charts from web pages and then converts them to accessible visualizations for blind people by enabling them to hear the chart summary as well as to interact through data points using the keyboard. Our evaluation with 14 blind participants suggests the efficacy of SeeChart in understanding key insights from charts and fulfilling their information needs while reducing their required time and cognitive burden.