How People with Disabilities Use Digital Technology.
Auditory Disabilities
Auditory disabilities affect how people hear, including hearing less in one
Auditory Disabilities.
or both ears, not hearing, and hearing sounds
in a range of different ways.
High-quality sound is important for many people with reduced hearing.
Audio needs to be clear and background noise low
to make speech easier to understand.
Websites and apps that allow users to adjust the volume of the audio
that it is currently playing
without changing the volume for other sounds from the computer, such
as notifications, make it easier for people to hear the audio.
Some people with auditory disabilities use hearing devices but this does
not always mean they can hear all audio, or hear it clearly.
Websites and apps that do not rely on audio alone make it easier for people
with different types of auditory disabilities to perceive the information.
This includes using visual alerts and haptic feedback,
such as vibration on mobile phones, in addition to audio.
Another example of
visual alternatives to audio are captions.
Captions provide important audio information in text format.
They indicate who is speaking and important sounds,
such as significant sound effects in a movie.
Many people who use captions need to adjust the text size,
font, and color to make the captions more readable.
While automatic captions are gradually improving,
they are usually too inaccurate to rely on as an alternative.
For example, they don't recognise specialized terms well
and the sentences can sometimes run together,
making it hard to keep up.
While many people with auditory disabilities
do not use sign language, for many it is their primary language.
There are many sign languages in different countries, regions, and cultures.
Sign language is also different from written and spoken language.
That means people are often translating between sign language
and written language,
and people’s levels of understanding of written language can vary.
In order to see sign language
clearly, people rely on high-quality video transmissions.
This includes needing access to high-speed internet and devices
that can handle high-quality video.
People with auditory disabilities also include people who are deaf-blind.
Many people who are deaf-blind rely on communication that is tactile,
like braille.
Portable braille displays can convert text on the computer
to braille letters that can be felt on the fingertips.
And for multimedia, like videos, people rely on descriptive transcripts.
This is text, such as an article or script, that contains all the audio
and visual information so that the video can be understood without watching it.
You can help make technology
accessible to me.
Accessibility: It's about people.
For more information from the Web Accessibility Initiative
on how people with Disabilities use Digital Technology
visit w3.org/WAI/people