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Audio control
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Summary
If any audio content plays automatically for more than three seconds, give people a way to stop it.
When audio plays automatically on a page, it should last for less than three seconds or there must be a easy way to pause/stop it.
Requirements
- Audio content does not start playing automatically, or stops after 3 seconds or less;
- Audio that plays automatically and lasts for more than three seconds, can be easily paused and/or stopped.
Why?
- This ensures that people who listen to content with a screen reader can do so without it being drowned out by the audio.
- Unexpected audio may also distress users with cognitive or sensory sensitivity.
Official wording in the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines
1.4.2 Audio Control: If any audio on a Web page plays automatically for more than 3 seconds, either a mechanism is available to pause or stop the audio, or a mechanism is available to control audio volume independently from the overall system volume level. (Level A)
This applies to native apps by replacing “on a Web page” with “in an app”.
See the W3C’s detailed explanation of this guideline with techniques and examples.
Guidance for Design
Ideally
- Avoid audio or video content that plays automatically
If you need to play audio or video content automatically
- Make sure that it lasts less than 3 seconds
If you can’t do any of the above
- Provide a keyboard accessible and clearly-labelled ‘Pause’ button (e.g. ‘Pause video’) at the very beginning of the page/screen.
More guidance for Design
More info
Sources
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This document is in beta. Help us by reporting issues via Github or email