This guide is derived from the book Understanding Accessibility, Published by HiSoftware Publishing... The Entire book can be viewed online in accessible HTML Help format.

This section does not contain demonstration files but simply lists tips for Section 508 (b) Equivalent alternatives for any multimedia presentation shall be synchronized with the presentation.

Audio Files
There are different types of audio files-all require text equivalents.

Consider the following audio files:

Stand-alone audio files, such as music that plays during a multimedia presentation or at the request of the user
Interactive audio files, such as an alert tone, that only plays when the user has performed a specific task

Creating Accessible Audio Files

You have several options if you need to provide equivalent text for sound and audio files.

Static Text Equivalent
You can display static, or non-moving, text during the sound. This technique is most effective for sounds that require user input, such as stand-alone audio or interactive audio.

Stand-alone audio is a file that the user plays by some action or command. For example, Clicking on an element plays an audio file.

Interactive audio is sound that occurs because the user has performed an action or command. For example, any error or interactive action that results in an audio warning or prompt based on user action must also have a visual equivalent.

Link to Text Transcript
You can provide a link to a text transcript of an audio file. This technique is most effective for stand-alone audio files, such as music.

When you provide a link to the text transcript, position the link near the top of the page, frame, or table cell. When you create a text transcript, use a description that accounts for both spoken and non-spoken sound, and be sure to differentiate between them.

For example, suppose you are viewing a page about United States history. Near the top of the page there are two links:

Listen to the earliest recording of the national anthem.
See a text transcript of the earliest recording of the national anthem.

However, if the page automatically plays the national anthem, there should be some indication to the user that sound is being used. The best technique for sounds that plays automatically is static text done by scripting.

Remember that you should provide synchronized alternatives this is accomplished by captioning the media. The tutorials in this site provide captioned media and are a good example of accessible multimedia.

Example:  Instructional Video and Text - Using Cynthia

More information on Captioning:

Caption with SAMI - http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/dnacc/html/atg_samiarticle.asp

Caption  with SMIL - http://www.w3.org/TR/smil20/

Hi-Caption - Captioning tool by HiSoftware - http://www.hisoftware.com/hmcc/index.html

top
 

Printer Friendly Version...