Re: Seeking thoughts on real world application of SC 1.4.2 Audio Control on iOS

Peter:

There is similar audio foreground/background support on Android, where
the relative volume levels are separately configurable.

Janina

Peter Korn writes:
> Hi gang,
> 
> For a (growing?) number of our success criteria, the underlying
> environment/platform provides support such that it is (no longer)
> necessary for the application to do anything special.  For example,
> it is no longer necessary for an application to be self-enlarging to
> meet SC 1.4.4 Resize Text
> <http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG/#visual-audio-contrast-scale>, since
> virtually every current version of every browser will do this.  It
> is only necessary to not be incompatible with that browser feature.
> 
> Thinking now about SC 1.4.2 Audio Control
> <http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG/#visual-audio-contrast-dis-audio>,
> specifically on iOS, I wonder if we may be in a similar situation.
> When I am listening to audio on my iPhone (e.g. listening to a
> podcast or music), and I use VoiceOver to interact with the phone,
> while VoiceOver is speaking, it lowers the volume of whatever is
> playing so that VoiceOver's speech is clearly intelligible.  I
> haven't measured, but the volume difference may be as great as the
> 20 dB difference specified by the AAA SC 1.4.7 Low or No Background
> Audio <http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG/#visual-audio-contrast-noaudio>.
> 
> So it seems VoiceOver/iOS is addressing the user need behind this
> SC; though perhaps not addressing it fully...?  I note that, at
> least in iOS v6.1.4 there doesn't seem to be an option to set the
> volume level that the "background" audio is lowered to, so the
> platform doesn't expose the full capability described in
> Understanding SC 1.4.2 <http://www.w3.org/TR/UNDERSTANDING-WCAG20/visual-audio-contrast-dis-audio.html>.
> 
> 
> Anyway, I'm curious about the TF's thoughts on this.  Specifically:
> 
>  * Are we at least close to an analogous situation to SC 1.4.4, where
>    an (iOS) app can rely on the underlying OS to handle the SC?  (of
>    course you would test to ensure compatibility with the feature)
>  * Whatever the specific requirements of the SC, have we fundamentally
>    met the user need?  Or does anyone know of specific users for whom
>    the built-in volume-lowering functionality of VoiceOver on iOS is
>    insufficient?
> 
> 
> Regards,
> 
> Peter
> 
> -- 
> Oracle <http://www.oracle.com>
> Peter Korn | Accessibility Principal
> Phone: +1 650 5069522 <tel:+1%20650%205069522>
> 500 Oracle Parkway | Redwood City, CA 94064
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-- 

Janina Sajka,	Phone:	+1.443.300.2200
			sip:janina@asterisk.rednote.net
		Email:	janina@rednote.net

Linux Foundation Fellow
Executive Chair, Accessibility Workgroup:	http://a11y.org

The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI)
Chair,	Protocols & Formats	http://www.w3.org/wai/pf
	Indie UI			http://www.w3.org/WAI/IndieUI/

Received on Thursday, 23 May 2013 01:29:56 UTC