Sound Volume Control

Name: Takayuki Watanabe, Masahiro Umegaki, Makoto Ueki
Email: nabe@lab.twcu.ac.jp
Affiliation: JIS Working Group(JSA INSTAC)
Document: W2
Item Number: Success Criterion 1.4.2
Part of Item: 
Comment Type: general comment
Summary of Issue: Sound Volume Control
Comment (Including rationale for any proposed change):
In 1.4.2, now it reads \"or a mechanism is available to control audio volume which can be set independently of the system volume.\"



This seems to address our comment which said \"Is it unnecessary for WCAG 2.0 to require the mechanism of the audio volume control?\" But \"Response from Working Group\" seems to reject our sugestion.



Just to confirm. JIS WG still would like WCAG 2.0 to require the mechanism of the audio volume control.



Most media players already have volume controls on them. However most of their interfaces can also be customized by the developers and the volume controls can be hidden in such customized skins of the media players. Aadditionally the authors can create the original interfaces without the volume controls, for example, by using Flash [1],[2].



Having stop button is not necessarily sufficient since the volume can be too loud. In this case, it is not an user agent issue but a web content issue which is under the authors\' control.



For the customized interface without the volume controls on them, is it still unnecessary for WCAG 2.0 to require the mechanism of the audio volume control?



We just want to confirm that \"or a mechanism is available to control audio volume which can be set independently of the system volume.\" in 1.4.2 addresses our concern or not.



[1] http://www.jvcmusic.co.jp/tarako/

[2] http://www.kewpie.co.jp/tarako/



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Comment 9:



Source: http://www.w3.org/mid/20060623095914.FE78.NABE@lab.twcu.ac.jp (Issue ID: LC-1322)



Comment: JIS X 8341-3 also addresses the importance of volume control. It allows the users who are hard of hearing to adjust the volume of the audio. Is it unnecessary for WCAG 2.0 to require the mechanism of the audio volume control?



JIS 5.7 b) says:



b) Sound should be controllable by users.



Information:

Hearing impaired users cannot detect that sound is being played. Also, there are cases where louder volume is preferred.



Example:

To enable users to adjust volume, play, and stop, provides controls for play, stop, and volume adjustment. When using plugins, they can be used for this purpose



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Response from Working Group:

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Control of volume is a user agent issue. Most players already have volume controls on them.  Content, due to security issues, usually cannot directly access the hardware volume control and thus can onlyturn volume down not up.   We therefore do not include a recommendation for content to also include a volume control, though user agents should. This belongs to the domain of User Agents and is covered in the User Agent guidelines (UAAG 1.0) which reads as follows:



\"Guideline 4. Ensure user control of rendering...User agents rendering audio have to allow the user to control the audio volume globally and to allow the user to control distinguishable audio tracks.\"

Proposed Change:
Response from Working Group said \"Control of volume is a user agent issue.\"



But 1.4.2 reads \"or a mechanism is available to control audio volume which can be set independently of the system volume.\"



Need more clarification on this issue.

Received on Friday, 29 June 2007 17:07:18 UTC