6 · Audio and Video Features

For those who have sensory disabilities such as deafness or a hearing impairment and for those who may have cognitive learning disabilities offering alternatives for videos with audio, podcasts or audio files for download is essential. Increased download speeds and more use of multimedia on the web means that additional text transcripts, captioning and sign language must be considered in a way that is appropriate for the content. There should also be mechanisms for the user to pause, stop, or hide moving, blinking and scrolling media both visual and audio as well as to be able to control the frequency of auto updates.

For those who have visual impairments offering alternatives for animations or videos where there are long scenes with no descriptive dialogue is essential. This is particularly true if they are an important part of the web service content. Additional text transcripts and audio descriptions can make this type of media accessible.