Audio

Overview

Information presented only through audio content is not available to people who are deaf or hard of hearing. It is an accessibility requirement to provide audio content in a form that all users can access.

Two pieces of supplementary descriptive text must be provided for each audio-only file on a webpage:

  1. Descriptive text title
  2. Descriptive text transcript

Audio files are most commonly added into WordPress by embedding a URL from a third-party source into a Rich Text Editor or Gutenberg Audio Block. Content creators must add the descriptive text title and transcript either directly on the web page immediately following the audio file, or alternatively with a link to another web page or accessible document that contains the descriptive text title and description.

Descriptive Text

  1. Include all dialogue and the identity of who is speaking.
  2. Include any non-speech information conveyed through sound (e.g. meaningful sound effects)
  3. Include any information that is required to tell the same story and present the same information as the audio.
  4. If providing a link to a descriptive text transcript, ensure that the link occurs immediately after the text alternative that identifies the time-based media content.
  5. The user must be able to stop, pause and rewind all audio files.
  6. Exceptions: In cases where the audio content is a media alternative for text and clearly labelled as such, captions and descriptive text transcripts may not be required.

What to Avoid

  1. Do not rely solely on automated descriptive text.
  2. Do not omit any dialogue or important sounds from either the captions or the transcript.