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From the “Review of Web Audio Processing: Use Cases and Requirements” http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/public-audio/2012AprJun/0852.html Need a requirement that audio from the Web application not interfere with system sounds (e.g., alerts), which may contain vital information for the user. While it's probably not desirable to pause Web application audio for system sound events, it's also not desirable to have system sounds drowned out by Web application audio. User preferences may be needed to indicate specifically how to handle the situation, but a way for Web application audio to be aware of system sounds will be needed.
In http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/public-audio/2012AprJun/0854.html Doug wrote: > … this would be a requirement on the UA, not on the Web Audio API. > A loud song or video in HTML could just as easily drown out system > sounds, so this is a requirement at a different level of implementation > than this API. It seems worth having a mention in the Use Case document that system sounds can be critical, and suggest that UAs would ideally provide affordances for this need - but that the web audio API is not responsible for enforcing it.
Shouldn't it be the job of the operating system to silence other applications when there's an important sound to be played? My Android phone fades my music or podcast out temporarily when I get a phone call or notification, presumably with no cooperation from the music player.
(In reply to comment #2) > Shouldn't it be the job of the operating system to silence other applications > when there's an important sound to be played? My Android phone fades my music > or podcast out temporarily when I get a phone call or notification, presumably > with no cooperation from the music player. Yes, and iOS appears to fade out sound and send a pause signal to applications when a call comes in or the system needs to play a sound alert. Seems reasonably clear that this is a requirement well met at the OS level.
(In reply to comment #3) > (In reply to comment #2) > > Shouldn't it be the job of the operating system to silence other applications > > when there's an important sound to be played? My Android phone fades my music > > or podcast out temporarily when I get a phone call or notification, presumably > > with no cooperation from the music player. > > Yes, and iOS appears to fade out sound and send a pause signal to applications > when a call comes in or the system needs to play a sound alert. Seems > reasonably clear that this is a requirement well met at the OS level. This actually has relevance to https://www.w3.org/Bugs/Public/show_bug.cgi?id=17320. The OS might decide to suspend non-system audio during an OS event, and a WebAudio app may want to be notified in that case.
Added to Use Case / Requirement per http://dvcs.w3.org/hg/audio/rev/2a6431dcb680
Seeing no objection, closing.