Persons who use screen reading software can find difficult to hear the speech output if there is other audio playing at the same time, especially if the screen reader’s speech output is controlled with the same volume control as the sound playing in background (W3C, n.d.).
Tips
- Therefore, it is important that the user can turn off the background sound.
- Having control of the volume means being able to reduce its volume to zero.
- If any audio on a Web page plays automatically for more than 3 seconds, it has to have available mechanism to pause or stop the audio, or a mechanism to control audio volume independently from the overall system volume level.
- It is advisable that the user initiate the sound after they reach the page (especially if they last more than 3 seconds), rather than to require the user to stop the sound after they land on the page.
- Playing audio automatically when landing on a page may affect a screen reader user’s ability to find the mechanism to stop it because they navigate by listening and automatically started sounds might interfere with that navigation.
(W3C, n.d.)
Source: W3C, n.d.: Understanding Success Criterion 1.4.2: Audio Control. https://www.w3.org/WAI/WCAG21/Understanding/audio-control.html [31.8.2022].