Re: [en] Audio Content and Video Content

Hi Tavis,

Thank you for your feedback related to making audio and video accessible. It's useful to get your perspective on the biggest complaint users have.

There is a requirement in WCAG for "Low or No Background Audio" and we include that in the new resource:
* https://www.w3.org/WAI/WCAG21/Understanding/low-or-no-background-audio.html
* https://www.w3.org/WAI/media/av/av-content/#use-low-background-audio--recording-post-production-wcag-aaa

A different resource, "Media Accessibility User Requirements", covers separate volume controls for multiple audio channels under "clean audio" at:
* https://www.w3.org/TR/media-accessibility-reqs/#clean-audio

I don't know of media players that support that now. Do you? (It's good to know that many games do.) It would be good to know if media player developers have this on the their list for future development.

The "Making Audio and Video Media Accessible" resource we wanted to keep practical with functionality that is available today. If media players aren't going to support it in the foreseeable future, we probably don't want to add it to the resource. Although, we might want to mention it so that people developing audio and videos can prepare separate tracks so they are available in the future when media players do support it.

I created a GitHub issue to collect additional input:
 https://github.com/w3c/wai-media-guide/issues/120

For now, I've got this as low priority. I will keep it "on my radar" for input on making it higher priority to consider adding to the resource.

[ Side note: This chicken-and-egg issue is addressed in https://www.w3.org/WAI/fundamentals/components/ "If an accessibility feature is not implemented in one component, there is little motivation for the other components to implement it when it does not result in an accessible user experience." ]

Thanks again for your input!

Best,
~Shawn
<http://www.w3.org/People/Shawn/>





On 9/18/2019 8:33 AM, Developer, SleepingDog wrote:
> Hi list
> 
> I am responding to the New Resource: Making Audio and Video Media Accessible.
> 
> In my experience, the biggest complaint users have over properly-caption video is that voices are obscured by other sounds, such as background music.
> 
> Unless I have missed it, there should presumably be a requirement for a standard multi-audio-channel format that separates sound into pre-designated categories, like voice | background music | effects and so forth, so that the viewer-listener can select different volume levels (or mute) each audio channel separately.
> 
> This can be done in many computer/video games today.
> 
> 
> Tavis Reddick
> (Developer, SleepingDog)
>

Received on Wednesday, 18 September 2019 16:32:45 UTC