Missing stop/pause mechanism for auto-playing audio

Rule

A mechanism MUST be provided to stop, pause, mute, or adjust volume for audio that automatically plays on a page for more than 3 seconds.

Background

People who are blind or have low vision and use screen reading software can find it hard to hear the screen reader's speech output if there is other audio playing at the same time. If automatically playing audio lasts more than 3 seconds, an easily located, accessible mechanism must be provided to pause or stop the audio or control the audio volume. An audio control allows screen reader users to hear the screen reader without other sounds playing.

NOTE: Playing audio automatically when landing on a page may affect a screen reader user's ability to find the mechanism to stop it because they navigate by listening and automatically started sounds might interfere with that navigation. Therefore, we discourage the practice of automatically starting sounds (especially if they last more than 3 seconds), and encourage that the sound be started by an action initiated by the user after they reach the page, rather than requiring that the sound be stopped by an action of the user after they land on the page.

How to Fix

Fix this issue by using ONE of the following techniques:

1. Only start audio by an action initiated by the user (strongly preferred).
2. Stop the auto-playing audio within 3 seconds.
3. Provide an easily located, accessible mechanism to stop, pause, mute, or adjust volume for audio that automatically plays for more than 3 seconds.