Sound and Sonification Issues and Inconsistencies
Sound and Sonification Issues and Inconsistencies
- Subject: Sound and Sonification Issues and Inconsistencies
- From: Taliesin Love Smith via Accessibility-dev <email@hidden>
- Date: Thu, 11 May 2023 19:45:25 +0000
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- Thread-topic: Sound and Sonification Issues and Inconsistencies
Dear Apple Devs who care and know about accessibility and inclusion,
Our team at PhET Interactive Simulations designs and implements inclusive
features<https://phet.colorado.edu/en/simulations/filter?type=html,prototype&a11yFeatures=accessibility>
for highly interactive learning tools.
We find that the changing policies at Apple are having general adverse effects
on the inclusive experiences we carefully design for learners who use our HTML5
simulations. When learners use the simulations with Apple products like Safari,
Safari + VoiceOver, or Safari + iOS VoiceOver, they can can run into trouble.
The most recent issue is that sound no longer plays when a learner moves a
slider or movable object in a simulation. The learner must first press a button
in the simulation. How is a sonified slider, or moving object any different
from a sonified button? All are interactive elements and all make sounds. A
learner is choosing to interact, and we feel they should be getting the full
experience of the interaction. Learners have a clear option to turn off the
sounds if they do not want to hear them.
In addition, this latest change to how Safari handles sounds makes for a very
inconsistent user experience in many contexts. At first the slider or moving
object won’t make sounds, but then they will make sounds after pressing a
button. This is not good design, nor is it inclusive design.
Is there a work around for this issue? We want all our sounds to work when
interacting as we have designed them to work.
Sincerely,
Taliesin Smith
PS
I have a few other issues. I invite you to try them out:
* With iOS VoiceOver - some toggle buttons no longer work. This is a
serious problem in Molecules and
Light<https://bayes.colorado.edu/dev/html/molecules-and-light/1.5.21/phet/molecules-and-light_en_phet.html>.
I cannot turn the Light Source to an on position. Blind learners cannot use
their phones or iPads to access this sim. The sim works fine with MacOS
VoiceOver.
* With iOS VoiceOver custom grab and drag interactions were also broken,
but I just checked again and these custom drag interactions look like they may
be working again, see Balloons and Static
Electricity<https://phet.colorado.edu/sims/html/balloons-and-static-electricity/latest/balloons-and-static-electricity_all.html>
and
Friction<https://phet.colorado.edu/sims/html/friction/latest/friction_all.html>.
Thanks for fixing this. They weren’t working for a very long time. I last
checked in January 2023. I’ll request these sims be republished with this
important feature. This means they have to go through our quality assurance
process again which takes up valuable resources for a non-profit.
* With MacOS VoiceOver, an annoying sound plays when I activate a custom
interaction like the Yellow Balloon in Balloons and Static
Electricity<https://phet.colorado.edu/sims/html/balloons-and-static-electricity/latest/balloons-and-static-electricity_all.html>.
Is there a way to turn the sound off? We have our own sonifications.
Again sincerely,
Taliesin Smith
~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~
Taliesin L. Smith
email@hidden<mailto:email@hidden>
Inclusive Design Research Specialist
PhET Interactive Simulations
http://phet.colorado.edu/
Department of Physics
University of Colorado, Boulder
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