Techniques for WCAG 2.0

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G79: Providing a spoken version of the text

Applicability

Technologies that support links, audio formats.

This technique relates to:

Description

Some users who have difficulty sounding out (decoding) words in written text find it very helpful to hear the text read aloud. This service can now be provided easily using either recorded human speech or synthetic speech. For example, there are a number of products that authors can use to convert text to synthetic speech, then save the spoken version as an audio file. A link to the spoken version can then be provided within the content. Cost depends in part on the quality of the voice used and whether the text is likely to change frequently.

Examples

Example 1: A Web site for a government agency

The Web site for a municipal housing authority has a button on every page labeled "Read this page aloud." The user selects the button and the page is spoken by a synthetic voice.

Resources

No resources available for this technique.

(none currently listed)

Tests

Procedure

  1. Check if a spoken version of the content is available.

Expected Results

If this is a sufficient technique for a success criterion, failing this test procedure does not necessarily mean that the success criterion has not been satisfied in some other way, only that this technique has not been successfully implemented and can not be used to claim conformance.

Techniques are Informative

Techniques are informative—that means they are not required. The basis for determining conformance to WCAG 2.0 is the success criteria from the WCAG 2.0 standard—not the techniques. For important information about techniques, please see the Understanding Techniques for WCAG Success Criteria section of Understanding WCAG 2.0.